Smugglers Cove
by backyardgameboy
Summary: Austin takes the backies on vacation with him to smugglers cove. where pirates used to live. once they accidently discover the first clue to find it their off on a treasure hunt. maybe the'll fina a pirates treasure or two... or three. I worked on this story together with my friend CartoonCaster21. 50% of the credit goes to her.
1. intro

"I'm so excited!" Uniqua smiled, a large book held out in front of her. She pulled the book down, beaming over to her friends. "I'm finally going to Smugglers Cove!"

"It was really nice of your parents to invite us, Austin." Tyrone said.

Austin grinned. "It was no problem." A week ago, Austin's parents had decided to go on a weekend vacation up to an old town called Smugglers Cove. It was a tourist attraction place, only taken there by train, and that's where they were all heading. After making arrangments, Austin's parents asked Austin if he would like to invite along his friends. Confirming it with their parents, they joined the Kangaroos. At the moment, the five friends were sitting in the jeep, waiting for Austin's parents to finish placing all the lugages in the back and then they would be on their way to the train station.

After everything was packed they drove off towards the train station. All the kids looked at the book about smugglers cove.

"It says it was named smugglers cove because of all the pirates that went there to steal their treasue." Tasha said

"Woah Pirates!" Pablo said, " AARRGH!"

"It says here," Austin started, "That the three best pirates were A Newman, Mary Peirce, and one eye pete."

"How were they the best?" Tyrone asked

"Because no one has ever found their treasure!" Austin said, "Their still hidden somewhere in smugglers cove!"

They all stared in silence.

"We're here!" Mrs Kangaroo said

They arived at the train station.

Arriving at the train station, Mr. Kangaroo went to go park the car in the stations garage as Mrs. Kangaroo went up to the booth to make sure everything was set. The Backyardigans were waiting beside Mrs. Kangaroo, sitting on the floor as they watched their luggages being added onto the back cart full of various others.

"Smugglers Cove sounds interesting, I can't wait to get there!" Pablo smiled, becoming egar.

"Well, I just hope they have a mall. I plan to shop." Tasha informed. Her friends just laughed.

"Kids!" The Backyardigans looked up, seeing Mrs. Kangaroo no longer beside them, but about to aboard the train with Mr. Kangaroo. They were gesturing for them to follow. Quickly, the Backyardigans scrambled up and rushed over to the two adults. A whistle sounded, instructing the train would be leaving the station in a few moments.

The conducter came around, walking about and yelling, "All aboard! The train is about to leave! Smugglers Cove! All aboard!"

"Hurry kids, we must get to our seats." Mrs. Kangaroo said as one by one the Backyardigans climbed on the train. Once they were in, a kind panda walked over to them and lead them towards a door where their seats were located.

Once they were seated the train started moving.

A few minutes later.

"I'm bored." Tyrone said

"Well you can get up and go around the train." Mr Kangaroo said

"Then lets go!" Pablo said

They walked around and came to the dining car.

Each of them had a fancy ice cream for a snack.

They finished their ice cream.

"Hey!" Uniqua said, "Lets play hide and seek!"

"Yeah!" Tasha said, "I'll be it."

Tasha started counting.

After awhile, Tasha had found everyone. It was a really fun game considering there were many hidding spots. Suddenly, the train began to slow down and the five got the feeling that they were nearing their stop. Quickly, they ran back to their seats to meet up with Mr. and Mrs. Kangaroo so they could get off together and avoid getting lost.

Mrs. Kangaroo was relieved to see the five kids return to their seats. "There you are," she said. "I was just about to go looking for you. We'll be in Smugglers Cove in only ten minutes."

They got back to their seats and waited anxeiously. They saw some trees and well. more tree's.

Then finnaly they saw the train station.

"We're here!" Austin said

"Yay!" The others said.

Once the train stopped Austins parents lead them out.

The panda was there again.

"Right this way please!" She said, "Straight through these doors!"

She lead them inside.

"We will pick up the luggage." Austins mom said, "You guys wait here."

The panda walked over to them.

"Welcome to smugglers cove." She said with a smile, "Have fun enjoying this town! Rumor has it. Pirates once came here to bury their treasure. Who knows. Maybe you guys will even find some."

"I hope so!" Uniqua said

They walked over to a stand that had on display an old pirates book.

Uniqua was eager to look at it.

"It looks like this was a journal written by one eye pete!" Uniqua said

"Wow!" Tyrone said.

"Let me see!" Pablo said.

Pablo ran over and tripped over a loose board.

Everyone gasped.

Pablo hit the stand and the book flew into the air and then the cover got sliced in half by a sword that was on display.

Everyone scrambled over to the book. Including the panda.

"I'm sorry." Pablo said

"It's okay." The panda said, "We need to get that board fixed. several perople have tripped over it and knocked the book off."

Austin picked it up and noticed something.

"Hey!" Austin said, "There was a peice of paper hidden inside the cover!"

They all looked at it.

"Woah!" The panda said, "You found an old letter written by one eye pete himself! He must have hidden it in the cover of his book!"

Austin looked over the paper and indeed discovered it was written by One-Eye Pete - mainly because the ol' pirates poor signature was scribbled at the bottom of the paper. "This is amazing." Austin said in awe.

The panda smiled towards the kids, huddled around to glimps at the paper. "Well," she began, "I guess you kids are on a trip, right?"

"Yes we are." Pablo answered. "We came together."

"How nice." The panda grinned happily.

"We'll be here all week!" Uniqua stated proudly.

"Wonderful! Smugglers Cove is an interesting tourist attraction. I've been here many times. I enjoyed Ducks Pond. Well, I better hop back aboard the train." she informed, beginning to leave. Before she did though, she looked back at the kids. "Maybe next week when I see you, you will have found the treasure!" And then she left.

Austin looked back at the paper. We could so find this tressure, he thought.

"Kids!" The five Backyardigans looked up to spot Austin's mother waving to them next to Austin's father, their luggages surronding them. "C'mon! We have'ta catch a cab!"

"Coming!" Austin called. Carefully, he folded the paper into a tiny square and stuffed it into his pocket as he ran after his friends over to his parents.


	2. one eye pete

They had to take two taxis for all 7 of them. The parents were in one and the Backyardigans in another.

They eagerly looked at the paper.

"It has several riddles in it." Pablo said

"I'll read the first one." Austin said, "A peice of map is behind a suit case. It's not on the one with the skeleton face."

"What does that even mean?" Tyrone said

"Oh for goodness sakes!" Tasha said

"Well I geuss it tells us where to find peices of the map." Uniqua said, "And then we can find the treasure!"

When they got to the duck pond inn where they were staying Austins parents checked in and got the room key.

"We are going to put our luggage in the room." Austins dad said, "You guys can look around town if you want."

They returned to the lobby.

"OK" Austin said, "We need to figure out what this first riddle means."

They looked around the inn.

Tasha's eyes came to rest on the desk.

"Hey." Tasha said

"What is it?" Tyrone said

Tasha looked at the desk then turned her head.

Carven in the front of the desk were a couple squares. There a couple small reactangles carved next to it. one of them had a duck carved on it The other one had a skull.

"I found it!" Tasha said

The others looked at the desk.

"Turn your head to the side." Tasha said, "If you look at the square and rectangle just right they kind of look like a suitcase. And l;ook whats carved on them!"

They quickly looked at the duck one.

Austin felt it and discovered.

"Its a secret cabinet!"

They opened it and inside was a small peice of paper.

"The first map peice!" Uniqua said

On the map peice was a few trees, a part of a river, and what looked like a person.

"This looks like the bottom right corner of the map." Uniqua said

Uniqua held onto the piece of the map. "Yes, its defiantly the bottom right corner. See how this sides cut evenly and then its ripped here?" she pointed out. "So we must be starting from the bottom." Tyrone thought aloud.

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch, Ty." Tasha reminded, hands on her hips knowingly.

Pablo looked at her, dumbfounded. "Um...we're talking about ducks, Tasha. Not chickens."

"Oh for goodness sakes! Pablo, its a metaphore. I mean that we shouldn't be certain until we have all the pieces of the map." Tasha explained, rather irrtated.

"OK..." Pablo said. "But what does that have to do with chickens?" Tasha just rolled her eyes, not bothering to reply.

"Um...lets read the next riddle." Austin suggested, pulling out the paper.

The others listened for it.

"Me thinks me saw a map peice fall, from behind the ticket that hangs on the wall." Austin said

"That could mean only one place!" Uniqua said

"The train station!" The others said

They all ran back to the train station. The panda was gone.

"Oh well." Pablo said, "She would have liked to discover a map peice in here."

"Never mind that pablo." Tasha said, "Where should we look?"

"It said behind a ticket that hangs on the wall." Austin said

"How about this?" Tyrone said

There was a sign hung on the wall shaped like a ticket.

Uniqua looked behind it and saw nothing.

"No nothing." She said

"Wait a minute." Tasha said.

She took the sign and felt along the edge.

"It's double sided!" She said.

Tasha peeled it in half. Inside was a map peice.

"We found it!" Tyrone said with glee.

They looked at it.

"This one has a compass on it." Pablo said, "This must be to find the dirrections."

"Awesome!" Pablo smiled, holding the compass in his flippers. "Now we won't get lost."

"With you telling us where to go, we still will." Tasha teased.

"Guys, sh! Austin's reading the next clue!" Uniqua hushed, pointing over to the 'roo boy. Austin nodded once his friends were listing. He held the book in front of him again as Uniqua tried to connect the two map pieces in a disapointing discover that they didn't fit with each other. "A peice of map is what you see on the wall where a zipper used to be." Austin read.

"Hmm...what does THAT mean?" Tyrone wondered aloud, scratching the side of his head in confusion.

Uniqua hummed, thinking to herself. She looked up in thought when something caught her eyes. "You guys!" she called. The four Backyardigans looked over to their friend. Uniqua shot up a finger, pointing to a sign that hung on a billboard that people read when leaving the train station. "Look! It says there's a museum here!"

Tasha walked over to get a better glimps. "Its says here that its a historic value. They have a 'pitare exhibit'." she informed.

"Then that's where we'll go!" Austin instructed, folding the papers back into his pocket.

"Why?" Pablo asked.

"Because," Uniqua took over, "if the museum is an 'historic value' they most likely have stuff from when the pirates were here." she smiled. "Right," Austin agreed, "and if they do, it'll help. Plus, that exhibit sounds worth checking out."

"Well, we have time before we gotta get back to your parents so...why not?" Pablo smiled.

The meuseum wasn't that far away from the train station.

They went inside and walked to the pirate exhibit.

There were three pirates uniforms, several paintings, and some other things.

A dog walked over to them.

"Hi there kids." She said, "I own the meuseum. My name is Rosy. Can I help you with something?"

"No we were just looking." Tyrone said

"Are any of these belonging to one eye pete?" Austin said hopefully.

"Yes." Rosy said, "This coat here belonged to him. and these some of thes things over here also are his."

She lead them to a shelf full of items.

"I have to go now but you kids enjoy your visit."

"Wait!" Uniqua said, "One question before you go. Why is there a stick in this shirt?"

"For some reason one eye pete had it there. It used to be a pocket eith a zipper." Rosy said then walked away.

They grinned at each other.

Tasha reached in the pocket and felt a paper. She pulled it out.

Austin took it.

"This one has has a small river and bridge." Austin said

They added it to their collection.

They started to leave with Austin looking at the paper then suddenly he stopped..

"What is it Austin?" Pablo said

Austin didn't answer. Instead he ran back to the shelf with pirate items on it and picked up a small pill box.

"What are you doing?" Tasha said

Austin opened it and inside was another map peice folded up.

They gasped.

"I knew it!" Austin said, "The next riddle was a map peice is hidden with a seasickness pill take it now if you will!"

"Good work Austin!" Uniqua said

They looked at the map peice.

Austin smiled shyly as the five exited the building. "So, where to next?" Tasha asked, skipping down the steps. "Well, lets see." Austin said, pulling out the book. "Wait," Pablo halted. The four looked up over to the penguine. "What is it, Pablo?" Austin asked.

"How come you get to read all the riddles? Can I read the next one?" he asked.

"Uh, sure. Here you go." Austin said, handing the book over to him. Pablo gladly took the book and looked at it. "Hey! Am I on the right page or not in the English catagory or is this impossible to read!" Pablo muttered, staring mindlessly at the scribbled handwriting.

"Pablo?" Uniqua said. He looked over to her. "Your holding it upside down."

Pablo looked back at the book and slowly turned it around. Once he did, everything made sense. "It worked!" he smiled earning his friends to facepalm themselves. "Ok, it says 'a flavor sign that takes a turn shows you peice of map to earn'."

"A flavor sign?" Tyrone wondered. "What does that mean?"

"Flavor sign...flavor sign..." Tasha thought.

"I KNOW!" Pablo beamed. His friends looked at him, completely surprised. "What?" Tyrone asked, amazed. "I know! Uniqua, is there an ice cream shop in Smugglers Cove?"

Uniqua looked at her guide for a moment. "Um...yes. Down this street, but why?"

"Follow me and I'll show you!" Pablo replied, taking off in the directions Uniqua pointed him too. The four shrugged and followed their friend. Within a few minutes, they were outside of the ice cream shop. Pablo gestured towards a sign in the shape of an ice cream. "See? Doesn't that look like a flavor sign?" he grinned pleasingly.

They walked inside and saw several bins of ice cream.

A horse stood behind the counter.

"Hi can I get you anything?" He asked

"Pablo." Tyrone wispered to him, "Distract him so we can find the map peice."

"What's the special?" Pablo asked

"A swashbuckler swirl." He said

"While Pablo is busy ordering lets find it." Austin said

Uniqua snuck behind the counter and quickle looked at the back of the bins.

"Nothing." She whispered to Tasha.

Tasha looked behind a blackboard that said the daily special.

"Nope." Tasha said

"And hot fudge and extra sprinkles." Pablo said continuing his ridiculously long order.

Tyrone checked out the sign outside the store.

"No." Tyrone said

"It has to be here somewhere." Austin said.

"Austin!" Uniqua whispered.

"What?"

"Theres an extra empty bin!" Uniqua said, "There must be another flavor somewhere!"

Austin looked around franticly. Then his eyes laid on a sign on a shelf that read COOKIE DOUGH.

Austin reached up and grabbed it.

"And even more whipped cream, and a few skittles." Pablo said

Austin looked on the back and saw the map peice. he grabbed it and signaled to pablo to stop.

"You know what I need to have dinner soon so just cancel that order." Pablo said

"Bye!" They all said as they left.

"Oh that was close." Tasha said.

"But I have the peice!" Austin said

They looked at it. It has a shining lighthouse and part of a storm

"What does this mean?" Tasha wondered.

"It looks like a lighthouse...maybe that's where the next map piece is." Tyrone suggested. He looked over to their handy-guide-girl Uniqua. "Uni, is there anything about a lighthouse here?" Once again, Uniqua pulled out her guide book to double check.

"Yes but we should follow the clues in order." Uniqua said,

"The next one is." Pablo said, "Looking down at the boat building store is a peice of map in the back door."

"The boat store is right there." Tasha said

They went around back and saw a door but nothing else.

"Theres nothing here." Uniqua said, "Maybe there's something we're missing?"

"It says looking down." Austin said, "Hey I've got an idea!"

"What!" Uniqua said

"Me and Pablo should go to the top of the fort and look at it there!" Austin said

"Thats a good idea!" Tyrone said, "We'll stay here and look for it."

"Keep in touch via cell phone." Pablo said.

Pablo and Austin ran along the hiking trail to the fort.

"Hey Austin?" Pablo said

"Yeah?" Austin said

"How are we gonna see from way up there?" Pablo asked.

"Binoculars." Austin said.

Austin pulled two binoculars from behind his back.

When they got to the top of the fort they put up their binoculars and called the others.

"We can't see anything from down here!" Tasha said

"I can't see anything at all!" Pablo complained, "The town is so far away even with my binoculars!"

"Uh Pablo." Tyrone said over the phone.

"I'm serious!" Pablo said, "The buildings themselves look like ants!"

"Pablo." Uniqua said

"We will never find it from up here! Never!"

"Pablo!" Austin said

"Yeah?"

"You're holding your binoculars backwards." Austin said

Pablo turned them around and looked through them again.

"Oh thanks." Pablo said.

"I still can't see anything." Austin said

"Theres nothing here either except a really shiny door." Tyrone said, "Maybe I should look inside."

Tyrone opened the door and went inside.

Pablo and Austin saw something on the back of the wall for a split second.

"Tyrone! Wait!" Pablo said

"What?" Tyrone said

"Move the door again and look at the back." Austin said

Tyrone slowly moved the door and a picture appeared on the back on the wall.

"It must be reflecting of of things to make this!" Uniqua said, "It's shaped just like the map peice!"

"Quick!" Tasha said, "Draw a copy!"

Quickly, Tyrone pulled out a notepad a pen from who knows where, and began to draw down a copy for themselves. Once done, the Backyardigans looked over it, curiouse.

"Well? What do you guys think?" Tyrone asked.

"In my opinion...its a clue. A map piece." Pablo answered resulting in the four Backyardigans to facepalm themselves.

"I wonder what its telling us." Uniqua wondered aloud, thinking about what the clue was trying to say.

Pablo and Austin were still at the fort when Pablo realised he left the book with Uniqua.

"Hey Uniqua!" Pablo said, "There might be a map peice at the fort can you read the next riddle?"

"It says." Uniqua said, "An old wrist shack that one eye pete wore hides a secret on the dungeon floor."

"Theres a dungeon here!" Austin said

Pablo and Austin ran inside the dungeon.

"Ok theres a wrist shackle on the floor here but theres nothing under it."

Austin noticed some of the rocks on the floor were arranged to the shape of a skull.

Austin shruuged that thought away and focused on the shackle.

"Let me try lifting the rocks underneath it." he said,

Austin pulled on the rock under the shackle and found it was loos.

He pulled it out and founs a small box. Inside was the next map peice.

"We found it!" Austin said

"Good work you guys!" Tasha said, "Now come on down!"

After they rejoined in town Pablo read the next riddle.

"x marks the spot. thats the place to be. a peice of map is waiting to see."

"I saw some rocks that were shaped like an x near the picnic table but they looked to big to be moved so that must be it!" Austin said

"So, are we already at the treasure?" Pablo asked.

"Hmm...I don't think so, Pablo." Austin answered, looking over the map pieces they have already uncovered. "Seeing this, unless the next piece is REALLY big, we still have some more to find."

Uniqua smiled, "Well, we're not going to find the treasure by just standing here! Lets go!" And she leaped off.

"Wait Uniqua!" Austin said, "We have to meet my parents for lunch!"

"Oh yeah." Uniqua said

"We can look for it then as long as someine distracts them." Tasha said

"So lets head back." Tyrone said

They went back to the duck pond inn.

"Hey kids!" Mrs Kangaroo said, "How was exploring the town?"

"Great mom." Austin said, "We found the perfect place for a picnic lunch! Can we do it?"

"Yeah!" Austins dad said, "We need to see the town too! We have been cooped up in here all morning so we need to get out!"

So Mrs. Kangaroo packed two baskets for the picnic lunch. Once she was done and they were prepared, the couple followed the five kids to their "perfect picnic spot". Upon arriving to a picnic table, the kids informed that they were there.

"So...what did you make for lunch, mom?" Austin asked, pushing the paper deeper in his pocket.

"Um, I made some sandwhiches! I have meat and lettuce and bread, so help yourselves!" Mrs. Kangaroo stated happily, setting out the items along the table. Hungrily, the kids picked out what they liked and made a sandwhich for themselves as did Austin's parents. In the whole while, the five were still trying to think up a plane on how to distract the two adults long enough for them to find the next map piece.

Suddenly Austin had an idea.

"Hey mom, dad?" He asked

"Yeah son?" Mr kangaroo answered

"Theres a fort nearby and I would like to take a picture from up there of you guys." Austin said

"We'd love to!" Mrs kangaroo said, "Lets head up."

"You guys don't mind us going for minute?" Austin asked winking at the others.

"No go ahead." They said

As soon as they were out of sight the four of them scrambled to the x.

"There's a big rock right in the center!" Uniqua said, "We have to move it to get to the map!"

Meanwhile Austin had lead his parents to the fort and had a camera.

"Ok ready?" Austin asked

"Yup." Both his parents replied.

They got into a pose together.

"Ok" Austin said, "1, 2, 3"

"I know!" Tasha said, "we'll pullit and Pablo will grab it!"

They strained. The rock moved.

"17, 18, 19" Austin said

"I can't reach it!" Pablo said,

"Pablo use your head!" Tyrone said,

"My head?" Pablo said, "OK!"

Pablo hit his head on the rock.

"Oh great." Uniqua said

"45, 46, 47,"

Mr. Kangaroo looked towards his wife, puzzled. He was no longer smiling from his cheeks going numb. The same thing followed for Mrs. Kangaroo. "Um...Austin?" she called.

"62, 63 - yeah?" Austin asked.

"Um, sweetie, aren't you going to take the picture?"

"I'm counting."

"Yes, we see that." Mr. Kangaroo said. "But all the way to 100?"

Austin nodded. "Yes, to make sure you want that position. Now, get ready." Austin said, aiming the camera once more. "Now uh...where was I? Oh well! 1, 2, 3..."

"Oh goodness." Mr. Kangaroo sighed.

Meanwhile, Pablo had a massive headache while his friends looked at him with looks so unforgetable.

"Really Pablo?" Tasha asked. "Really? You seriously did not bang your head on that rock."

Pablo rubbed the side of his head. "I sure did, and I have the bruise to prove it."

Tasha couldn't help but facepalm herself for what seemed like the tenth time that day in a result of another Pablo-error.

Uniqua and Tyrone put one huge burst of strength and lifted the rock.

They imagined they were Tyrone the strong and princess strong blossom.

"I'll get it!" Tasha said

She grabbed small box and they let go.

"Now quick!" Tasha said, "Get back to the table!"

Meanwhile Austin had finally taken the picture and they were walking back.

Austin hoped he had given them enough time to find it.

When they got back the others were looking out at the water.

"Hey guys wht re you doing?" Austin asked,

"We're looking at the cove." Uniqua said

Uniqua gave austin a quick wink. He saw it nd was relived.

After they finished lunch.

"Kids we are going to need you back at the inn so we can do something" Mrs Kangaroo said

They got A little worried.

Once they got back.

"How can we look for the map peices in here?" Pablo said

"I geuss we'll just have to wait untill tomorow." Tyrone sighed

"Until then lets hide the book and map peices." Uniqua said

They found the perfect hiding place. With Uniqua's books.

"Kids get into your swimsuits!" Mr Kngaroo said

They were confused but they did.

They looked at each other in their swimsuits.

Austins was blue, had a big yellow stripe on it, and a big hole in the back for his tail.

Tyrone's was red and dark blue striped.

Uniqua's was pink with polka dots.

Tasha's was orange with flowers on it.

Pablos was blue and yellow striped.

"I'm guessing we're going swimming," Pablo said.

"That's right, Pablo." Austin's mother said, walking into the room in her own magnolia coloured swimsuit, but she wore a white light sweater over. "There's a swimming area at this inn! Austin's father and I thought it would be fun for you kids to go swimming."

"That does sound fun." Tyrone smiled.

"Plus we're already in our swimwear." Tasha reminded.

"Alright then," Austin's father said, butting into the conversation. He walked into the room wearing a black pair of swim shorts. "Lets go swimming!" And one that que, the five kids happily hurried down the hall with the two adults close behind.

When all the backies jumped into the pool they decided to have a race to the other side and back.

"Ready set go!" They said

Pablo and Austin tied for first since Pablo had his flippers and Austin spun his tail around like a motor.

After that they spent several hours in the pool playing with each other.

Finally it was time to get out.

They all went back to their room and went into the bathroom. The backies had to take a bath to wash the chlorine out.

They all sat down and for the first time they saw what each other looked like without their clothes. Well except Pablo.

After the bath, the Backies each dressed into their comfy pyjamas seeing it was going to be time for bed in two hours or so. Austin wore plain buttoned purple pyjamas, Tasha had a red nightgown with an orange flower on her chest and matching slippers, Pablo just wore a plain grey T-shirt with baggy pants, Tyrone wore a striped long-sleeved shirt and blue pants, and Uniqua wore pink and white polka-dotted pants with a bubble gum pink shirt that had "Dreams" written across it.

They looked so cozy.

Especially when they were in the living room that was sheeted in blankets and pillows, huddled either on the couch or the pillow-covered floor, watching TV with a bowl of chocolate chip cookies being passed about. Five glasses of milk sat on the coffee table.

They were currently watching a mystery movie, one Pablo had brought from his collection of Sherlock Holmes. They were trying to piece if maybe Holmes methods could help them in their own mystery.

"A bird flying high below the big blue sea brought a peice of map to me." Austin thought.

As they finished the movie They all went to bed. Austins subconsious thought so hard about it he started to dream about it.

Pablo was still awake and had decided to mess with Austins dreams. Pablo put his MP3 player over Austin's ears. It wouldn't fit properly but it worked. Then Pablo set it to repeat mode so it would play one song over and over again. Then Pablo went back to bed gigling at what austin could be thinking about.

Austin was hving n unusul dream.

He dreamt he was in some unusual city with several buildings and a few parks. Austin looked at himself and gasped in surprise. He was blue, had no clothes, wore red shoes, white gloves and felt something on his back and head. He tried to say something but discovered he couldn't talk. He also felt huge urge to run around. Unable to resist it he took off a lot faster then he hd ever run before.

He ran through a park and somersalted down a stair rail. He jumped t the end and landed on some platforms. He kept running without a care in the world but then he started thinking aout the bird. and the sea. and the riddle. He thought about it as he ran. He hit a giant spring nd flew into a building. He kept running across. He hit nother spring and then flew on top of the buildings. he ran down a vertical incline and crossed some blck and orange verticl cylinders. He destroyed a efw robots that mysteriously appeared. then he rolled down some roofs to another road. He turned a cornera nd suddely a giant black truck started chasing him. He ran on and smirked at the truck. It turned a corner and tried to run hi mover from a different angle. He jumped over it and ran on. as he rn across building the truck appeared again and realesed some robots. Austin destroyed them and ran along the rod were the truck was racing down hill. Austin Jumped over a huge gap in the road and over the truck passing underneth him. then it appeared at the top of a building and flew across a jump to try and run him over. Austin raced to the top nd beat it. He grabbed a skateboard and flew downhill. He did a few super jumps on a ramp and then rced alongside the truck again. The truck suddenly turned nd Austin hit another ramp which propeled him over the truck. Then he got off the skateboard and ran again. He croosed several scaffholding and jumped up higher as the truck destroyed the ones below. He flew downhill faster then he had ever before and the truck chased him behind. Sudden;y Austin figured it out nd slid under a small hole and the truck crashed. Austin then woke up and figured out the riddle.

When Austin woke up, he realized that he was the only one in the room he shared. Quickly, he pulled the covers off and quickly got dressed before entering the kitchen where he found his parents making breakfast with food they brought and his friends eating.

"Hey Austin!" Pablo greeted, swallowing his cereal. "Sleep well?"

"Uh...I had a strange dream..." Austin answered.

"A strange dream?" Tyrone quoted. "What was it?"

Austin walked over, taking up a chair next to Uniqua. "Um...well, I was all blue and I didn't have any clothes-"

"We're you Pablo?" Tasha guessed. Pablo just looked at her strangly.

"-Er, no. But I ran really, really fast and-" Austin stopped, lowering his voice under a whisper. "I figured out the next riddle!"

They stopped eating.

"How did you figure it out?" Tasha whispered.

the others nodded.

"The dream i had cleared my thoughts so I could focus on it." Austin answered, "we can go for soon."

Mr and Mrs Kangaroo went over to them.

"So what are you kids going to be doing today?" Mrs Kangaroo said

"I think we'll go check out the old light house." Tyrone said

After they all got dressed Uniqua grabbed the book and they headed out.

"So where is the next map peice Austin?" Uniqua said

Austin said, "It's at the top of the lighthouse."

Pablo was confused

"But the riddle said it was a bird flying below the blue sea." Pablo said

"No" Austin said, "It said flying high below the blue sea. Trust me on this."

"I trust you Austin." Uniqua said

They went over to the lighthouse.

They walked up a flight of stairs to the top were a big window, desk, and some chipped wallpaper.

"OK Austin were is it." Tasha said

"I'll explain." Austin said, "I got to thinking about how something could be high below the sea. Then after the dream I started thinking about it laterally and I realized it wasn' under the sea after all. It was a bird flying high but it wasn't under the sea. It's up here. Look out the window. you can see the se and below it on the wall is some chipped wallpaper shaped just like"

"A flying bird!" Tyrone said

"Austin you are a genius!" Uniqua smiled. Austin blushed slightly. "Well of course he is," Tasha stepped in. "He's not Austin the Smart because he knows his name."

"Alright, but I don't get the whole bird-made-in-the-wall thing."

"And this is why Pablo isn't the one in charge of the map." Tasha added. Pablo just shot her a look.

"Never mind about that," Tyrone said, "we're this close to getting the next piece!"

Tyrone felt long the wall until he felt a bump next to the birds beak. He tore off the wallpaper and another map peice fell to the floor. He picked it up.

"Here it is!" Tyrone said

Uniqua took it and put in with the others.

"Thats one more!" Uniqua said

Austin took out the book to look at the next riddle.

"Were the wall is cracked and fell away a map peice is now on display." Austin read

"That one is easy!" Pablo said

"IT is?" Uniqua said

Pablo ran downstairs and tore off a small peice of wallpaper right next to aa painting of a ship on the sea.

The others followed and stared at him.

"Don't ask me how I knew." Pablo said brandishing a map peice.

Uniqua took it surprised

"OK." Austin, "Next riddle."

Uniqua asked if she could read the next riddle and Austin instantly replied with a welcomed "yes" a little too enthusiastically. Uniqua just giggled and looked at the riddle. "Behind a long lost peice of gold there is a map peice that looks quite old."

"Gold? You mean we're finally at the treassure!" Pablo grinned happily.

"Yes Pablo," Tasha began sarcastically, "I'm sure the next map piece is HUGE and will fill up all the empty spaces."

"Great!" Pablo replied. Tasha just rolled her eyes and walked away from him, going over to Tyrone. However, Tyrone was pndering about the riddle. "A long lost piece of gold? Where would that be? A jewlery store?" Tyrone thought aloud.

"I don't think so," Uniqua answered. "Hmm...we are up in the lighthouse, maybe we can get a good view." she suggested. Agreeing, they all rushed towards a small window and peered out, but all the window showed was the beach - the town was behind the lighthouse.

"Perfect," mumbled Pablo. "Now what?"

"I got it!" Tasha beamed. "You do?" Austin asked. "Sure, its simple. See, I bet the riddle wanted us to look out the window! If all we see is the beach..." she said, training off so her friends could get the message.

"Well don't just pause! If we see the beach - continue!" Pablo muttered.

"Pablo," Tyrone began, "the riddle is telling us we have to go on the beach to find the next piece!"

"Oh..."

They went down to the beach and started looking.

Pablo stared at the wrecked ship on the beach.

"Hey Uni what did you say this beach is called again?" Pablo asked

"Shipwreck shore." Uniqua answered

"I wonder why they call it that?" Pablo said

This made everyone facepalm.

"The ship don't give you a clue?" Tyrone asked. Pablo shrugged resulting in Tyrone rolling his eyes.

"Alright guys," Uniqua said, rasing up a pink hand to halt her friends. "We need to find that map piece. The riddle says something about gold. Anyone have any ideas?"

They began to ponder, their eyes scanning the surronding beach, trying in vain to solve the riddle.

Then Tyrone looked at the name of the ship.

"Fishermans g*lden friend." Tyrone said

"Thats it!" Uniqua said

They watched as Uniqua broke off a part of the boat where it was missing an o.

She pulled out a map peice behind it.

"Good thinking!" Tasha said

Uniqua read the next riddle.

"a bear has a map peice hidden in the hay get past him and take it you may." Uniqua said

"Does that mean we go back to the toy store?" Pablo asked.

"No I don't think so." Tasha said, "I saw a shed nearby. We can look in there."

They went inside and saw a teddy bear dressed like pirate half burried in a pile of hay.

"Look!" Austin said "there it is!"

They dug around it but found nothing.

"What now?" Uniqua asked.

Pablo looked at the bear and unscrewed the hook. Inside was the next map peice!

"How'd you know that, Pablo?" Austin asked, marveled.

Pablo smirked. "I know my teddy bears."

"Yeah, 'cause that sounds so cool." Tasha teased, taking the map piece from his flippers. Before Pablo could object to her comment and action, Tasha began to read the riddle. "There's a peice of map for me where a fly used to be."

They started confused.

They walked back into town confused and as they were passing the boat store they saw a store for tackle and fly. They went inside and found a big picture of fly next to several lures. They inspected it and soon they got their peice of map.

"Hey Uniqua." Tyrone said, "How many more map peices do we need?"

"Umm" Uniqua said looking at the collection, "Maybe 5 or 6?"

"We're getting close!" Tasha said

Austin read the next riddle

"Up in the beams take a peek a map peice is behind a birds beak." he read.

"Are you telling me the next map piece is in a bird's mouth?! That's not fair! How're we supposed to get it?" Pablo muttered.

"Pablo," Tasha said.

"I mean, what if its a big bird!"

"Pablo," Uniqua said.

"We'll never get it if its a big bird! That's it man! Game over!"

"Pablo!" Tasha shrieked.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sure its not a real bird. Now close your own beak and lets think." Tasha ordered.

"Well if it says up in the beams that means it's in a tall building." Austin said

"So I guess we should start with the boat store." Uniqua said

They walked inside and saw there were several beams along the ceiling.

"How are we going to get up there?" Tasha asked.

"There's an attic here." Pablo said.

They climbed up into the attic.

"One of us is going to have to cross those beams." Tyrone said

"I'll do it." Austin said

"But Austin you might fall!" Uniqua said worried

"Tyrone give me a boost." Austin said, "Pablo Uniqua and Tasha be ready to catch me if I do fall."

They got into position.

Austin climbed onto Tyrones shoulders then his antlers.

"Hey!" Tyrone said, "Be carefull up there!"

Austin climbed onto the beams and stood up.

Uniqua was really worried about the 'roo boy.

As they watched they saw Austin was the best choice.

Pablo had too big flippers,

Tasha could never do it in her shoes,

Tyrones antlers would cause him to be unbalanced,

And Uniqua was , errr. well, the wrong shape.

Austin however was really thin and his tail helped him balance perfectly.

"Are you okay, Austin?" Uniqua asked, never looking away.

"Yes," he replied. "Kangaroos are good with balance." Austin carefully continued his walk up the beams, holding his arms out slightly for extra support. He was doing okay so far...

"See anything?" Tyrone asked.

"Um...nope - oh wait! I think I do!" Austin said happily, moving a little quicker. He thought he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly, there was a loud RING! Austin almost fell off the beams but thankfully caught himself. It wasn't until after that dramatic moment did he realize the "ring" was caused my his mother's cellphone in his backpocket. She had lended it to him for this trip and he had completely forgotten about it. He sighed and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi sweetheart! Just checking up on you five."

"Hey mom." Austin spoke. His friends realesed their held breaths in relief. What a time to call.

"Are you kids hungry? Your father and I thought we could all go for take-out!"

"Um...I guess. Where too?"

"We'll talk about it at the inn. So come here as soon as you kids can. That reminds me, where are you five?"

"Uh...checking out the view." Austin answered nervously.

"Alright dear, well, we'll be at the inn. See you soon. Kisses!"

"Okay, by mom. See ya." Austin said as he tucked the phone away.

Austin didn't want that to happen again so he set his phone to vibrate then put it back in his pocket.

He regained his balance and continued over to what he saw.

"Guys!" Austin said, "There's a carving of a bird here and it has an open beak!"

"Can you get it open?" Pablo called.

"I think so." Austin said

With some effort he opened it and inside was another small box that hd the next map peice.

"Guys I got it!" Austin called

He started to go back to Tyrone.

Suddenly Austin felt a horrible feeling in his leg.

He realised the cell phone was vibrating and it was set too high.

"Woaah!" Austin said as he struggled to regain his posture.

The others were scared.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Austin said as he lost his ballance and fell.

"AUSTIN!" Uniqua cried as she watched him in horror.

Austin saw his whole life flash before his eyes. He saw all the adventures he had with his friends and ll the good times he had with Uniqua.

Austin closed his eyes waiting for the impact.

When none came he opened his eyes and saw something he would never forget.

Uniqua was hanging there with one arm grabbing onto the beam and the other one locked with Austins arm.

Uniqua then pulled herself back up and then Pulled Austin up.

Austin was holding Uniqua's hand as he looked deep into her eyes. She did the same.

They would hve stayed like that forever if Austins phone hadn't vibrated again.

He grabbed it and answered,

"Hello?" Austin said

"Hey honey it's mom again. I forgot to tell you that I wanted you to go to the general store and pick up some fruit. I lready paid with my credit card so you don't have to pay."

"Alright mom. Bye!" Austin said as he hung up.

"So, are we gonna get going or are you two love-birds gonna stay up here?" Tasha teased.

Instantly, Uniqua and Austin let go of each other's hands and looked away, blushing madly. "Er..um...thanks Uni." Austin said.

"Anytime...I mean, whenever you fall from a beam I'll catch you...uh...your welcome." she said nervously, getting up. In her mind, she was just repeating how stupid that sounded.

"Um guys," Austin began. "My mom wants us back for lunch and needs us to pick up some fruit. We'll have to continue searching later."

After they got down They walked out and headed for the general store.

Uniqua looked at the book just to see what the next clue was.

"theres a map peice under where a feline will eat take it now from pussycat pete " Uniqua red to herself.

They walked into the general store where they saw a male fox behind the counter. He noticed them as they walked in.

"Which one of you is Austin?" He said

"Tht would be me." Austin said, "How do you know?"

"Your mom called and made an order." he said, "I'm Zorori."

Uniqu looked around and let out a silent gasp when she saw a pet bowl labeled "pussy cat Pete."

"What is it, Uni?" Tyrone asked.

"I think I solved the next riddle," she whispered.

Austin nodded. "You go find the map piece, I'll make sure he doesn't look." Austin walked over to the counter, smiling up at the fox. "Hello Mister! How do you do?"

Zorori was slightly surprised, but smiled, "I'm very good, thank you. Here's what your mother ordered."

"Thank you, Mister. You have a nice store here." Austin said randomly.

"Your kind, and thank you. Well, since your mother already paid, I'll see you around. Good day boy." Zorori waved.

"Actully what can you tell me about those prices on the souveniours you have here?" Austin said hoping to buy some time.

"Oh." Zorori said, "Well I have the post cards for 35 cents each, or there are these colorful shells for only"

While Austin and Zorori talked Uniqua felt below the cat bowl and found a secret compartment in the floor.

She quickly grabbed a peice of paper inside and set it back to the way it was.

"So will you be getting anything?" Zorori asked

"Not today." Austin said, "But sometime this week I'll get one."

"Okay!" Zorori said, "Bye!"

The 5 of them walked out and Uniqua showed them the map peice.

"Great, only a few more to go!" Pablo cheered.

"Kids!"

The Backyardigans paused and looked ahead where they spotted the inn they were staying at - and Austin's mother happily waving them over. They quickly hurried their pace until they met the two adults.

"Hi kids, did you have a good time sight-seeing?" Mrs. Kangaroo asked.

"Great mom," Austin replied.

"Anyway," Mr. Kangaroo started, "we thought we could all go out to one of the resturaunts for lunch. Okay with you kids?"

"Yeah!" They all said

"Do you have somewhere in particular you want to go to?" Mrs Kangaroo asked

"There's an ice cream shop by the cove." Austin said

"Yeah! That will also have a good view." Tasha said

"Alright!" Mr Kangaroo said, "We'll go there."

The Backies knew their parents would let them eat ice cream for a meal.

Normal parents want their kids to eat healthy.

But they weren't normal kids.

For one thing anything they ate got digested completely with absolutly nothing left. So that gave them extra nutrients. They also never had to .ahem. "go."

Which was good because they lacked certain body parts.

Also their bodies turned sugar and fat into more nutrients. so they were always healthy.

They arrived at the ice cream shop.

Arriving, Austin's parents asked the kids what they'd like to eat. Austin wanted chocolate, Uniqua asked for strawberry, Tasha wanted vanilla with colourful sprinkles, Tyrone got a banana split, and Pablo, of course, Rocky Road.

Once they ordered, the five picked a booth to sit in, and while waiting for the two adults, talked about the next riddle.

"Let's see the next riddle," Uniqua whispered.

"a peice of map to add to the stack is held behind an eye that is black." Austin whispered.

"How are we going to find a black eye?" Pablo asked

"Maybe we should punch you in the eye and look for it there." Tasha said sarcasticlly.

"Actually I saw something in the boat shop that might be it." Tyrone said

"Then we'll go there later." Austin said

"Shh!" Uniqua said, "Austins parents are coming back."

Mr and Mrs Kangaroo walked over with 5 bowls of ice cream.

Pablo's was shaped like a clowns head.

Uniqua's was a swasbuckler swirl.

Tasha's was shaped like a treasure chest with sprinkles on top.

Austins was shaped like asailboat with grahm cracker sails and a candy cane mast.

Tyrones was shaped like an island.

"Dig in everbody!" Austin said

The five ate their ice cream quite quickly but enjoyably. Austin's parents weren't even finished what they had ordered before the Backyardigans had piled their empty plates into the middle.

"Already done?" Mrs. Kangaroo asked.

"Yep," Pablo smiled.

"In any rush kids?" Mr. Kangaroo questioned.

The five froze a moment, somewhat confused. "What'dya mean dad?"

"I mean, you kids polished off your treat so fast like you were in a hurry to leave. We're on vacation! Why not calm down?" Austin's father said.

Before any of the five could reply, Austin's mother popped into the conversation, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder. She smiled, "Oh dear, the kids possibly want to explore! This place is perfect for them too, its safe and interesting." She looked over towards the Backyardigans, "You kids run along now and have fun. Just be back at the inn before six. We'll meet you there."

"Thanks mom. Bye!" Austin waved as he and his friends leaped down from their seats and hurried outside of the shop. Once they were in the late afternoon's air, they determined to return to the boat shop, and hope Austin wouldn't recieve any calls.

They ran back into the boat shop.

"So where is it?" Austin asked

Tyrone went up into the attic again.

The others followed.

"It's this." Tyrone said indicating to some hanging black ship peices.

"Thats just a bunch of old metal parts from a ship." Tasha said

"Remember Tasha." Pablo said, "Always expect the unexpected."

Tyrone spun them around until they took a shape.

They shape of an eye.

"Oh!" Uniqua said, "It points to where the peice is hidden!"

"Really clever, Ty." Tasha mused. Tyrone blushed slightly but turned away to grab the next map piece that was so carefully hidden. He blew off some caked dust and handed the yellowed-paper to Austin.

"A lizarsd is quick at climbing walls. Grab its map peice before it falls," Austin read. He looked up and was met with four puzzling faces.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Pablo asked curiously.

"Hmm...there's not really any places left to look. Yesterday and today, we scouted Smugglers Cove." Tasha reminded.

"Uniqua, can I see your book?" Tyrone asked. Uniqua nodded and pulled out her travling book on Smugglers Cove. Tyrone quickly flipped to the map of the place and tapped the page repeatidly in realization. "Found the problem. We searched everywhere...but the island."

"Island?" Pablo repeated.

"Island?" Austin quoted. "We don't have time to go to the island! Its late and there's no way we'd make it. We'll have to set out for the island tomorrow."

They went back to the duck pond inn where Austins parents were getting ready for dinner.

"Do you kids have any plans for tomorrow?" Mrs Kangaroo asked

"We were going to check out the island." Austin said

"That sounds fun!" Mr Kangaroo said

Uniqua hid the book and map peices again and they ate dinner.

After that they all went to the pool for another swim

At 8:00 they went back to their room to take a bath.

Once that was done they watched indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull.

"Guys, I know what we need." Pablo said randomly as they watched the movie.

"What's that?" Uniqua asked, taking a handful of popcorn.

"A whip and a awesome hat like that. It just makes the adventure." Pablo replied, sipping from his cup of juice.

The four looked at each other dumbfoundidly but brushed it off, returning their attention to the movie once again. Unfortuantly, the five didn't get to finish watching the movie as they fell asleep. Austin's parents walked into the living room after clearing the table to discover the Backyardigans sleeping away. They turned off the TV and let it be.

...

The next morning, the Backyardigans woke up early and quickly got dressed - the boys in their room and the girls in the bathroom. Once they were ready, they found the two adults sitting in the living room in their pyjamas, watching the news holding a cup of coffee.

"Morning kids," Mr. Kangaroo greeted.

"Morning," they all replied.

"So kids, you off to see the island?" Mrs. Kangaroo asked.

"Yep," Tyrone answered.

"Okay, but please don't go out there alone. If you five really want to go to the island, tell us and we'll take you, otherwise, I don't want you going alone. Understand?"

"Got it mom. We'll see you later," Austin waved. Quickly, they scooted out the door on their way to the island.

The 5 of them went over to the boat rental place.

They found a nice sail boat that could hold all of them and Austins parents.

"I'll go get my parents guys," Austin said, "But remember. We have to keep them from finding out what we're doing."

Austin went back to the duck pond inn.

"Mom?" Austin said, "We're ready to go."

"Alright sweetie," Mrs Kangaroo said, "We'll be there in a minute."

Austin went back to the others and discussed their plan.

"So we got it right? On the island, Uniqua and I will distract my parents as you three go and find the next pieces. Got it?" Austin reminded.

"Right," they agreed.

"Sh! Here they come!" Tasha hushed, noticing the couple walking over.

"Hey kids, what're you chatting about?" Mrs. Kangaroo asked. "We're...erm, just excited for the island is all." Austin smiled. "Well we'll be there soon enough." Mr. Kangaroo assured. "I think its a perfect day to go to the island. Are we ready?"

"Yes," the Backyardigans said with excitment.

"Then let's go!" said Mr. Kangaroo.

They all got in the boat.

Tyrone kept the sail steady while the others took the oars and steered.

Soon they arrived at the island.

They all got out and docked their boat.

Mrs. Kangaroo said, "Alright kids, what do you want to do?"

"Well...lets look around!" Uniqua smiled. "I mean, we've already explored Smugglers Cove, lets see around here."

"Okay, is there anything you kids want to see first?" Mr. Kangaroo asked.

"Um...oh hey dad!" Austin said. "What's that? Out in the ocean! I think its a whale!" he said, forcing his dad to look out at the sea.

"A whale?" his mother asked excitedly, turning around. Once the two were turned away, Uniqua made a shooing motion with her hand so Pablo, Tyrone, and Tasha could sneak away. "I don't see a whale."

"Keep looking mom. I'm sure it was a whale."

Pablo Tyrone and Tasha ran off.

Tyrone grabbed the book from Uniqua.

They ran until they came to a fork in the road.

On the left side was an old stone island house. On the right side lead to a forest. Between the paths was a stone wishing well.

"Ok quick!" Tasha said, "Where should we look?"

"How about the old island house?" Tyrone said

They ran to the house.

There was a fireplace, some flowers growing, a few walls, and a caulderon.

"Find it!" Pablo said

back on the beach.

"I'm not seeing a whale." Mr Kangaroo said,

They started to turn around.

"Hey!" Uniqua said, "I think I can see a pirates ship over there near smugglers cove!"

Austins parents looked.

"Did you guys get it?" Pablo said

"I found it!" Tasha said

They looked at her.

"These cracks in the wall!" Tasha said, "They're shaped like a lizard!"

They pressed the head and the tail moved showing a map peice.

Tasha grabbed it.

"Read the next riddle!" Tasha said

"Ok ok" Pablo said, "The map peice is in the mouth of a deer. to find it touch its antler and its ear."

Pablo and Tasha looked at Tyrone.

"What?" Tyrone said, "I'm a moose! not a deer!"

Pablo paused for a moment. "Close enough," he said, shoving the note aside.

"Pablo! I don't have a map piece!" Tyrone yelled.

Tasha ran over, going in between the two friends before any more shouts could be thrown. "C'mon, we don't have time for this! I doubt Mr. and Mrs. Kangaroo will be distracted by the invisable whales for long. So lets get over Tyrone being a deer, or a moose, or a random abonmniable snow beast and just find the next piece! Got it?"

Nobody really knows how Tasha is able to have people obey her so easily, maybe its just the way she says it or how she instructs what she wants, but immediantly the two boys did what she said. They always do. Its like she just has that authority. But the boys have known the hippo long enough for the rule "whatever Tasha says, you do or else".

"I don't see a pirates ship from here." Mr. Kangaroo said.

"What? You don't see that dad?" Austin asked nervously.

"Hmm...I don't." Mrs. Kangaroo agreed.

"Maybe you two aren't standing in the right place." Uniqua lied-suggested.

"What about you kids? Do you see a pirate ship?" Mrs. Kangaroo asked a little over her shoulder, plainly showing she was directing the question to Tasha, Pablo, and Tyrone. Of course, she noticed when they didn't respond.

Austin and Uniqua looked at each other worried.

"They uh." Austin stuttered, "They went to the other beach to build a sand castle."

"Oh" Mr Kangaroo said, "Lets go join them."

"Ok." Uniqua said, "We'll go on ahead."

They ran as fast as they could and once they were out of sight they ran to find the others.

Pablo, Tyrone and Tasha were looking around hard for anything that looked like a deer.

Then all of them saw something at the same time.

Some trees, rocks, and plants, when you looked at them from the right angle looked like a deer.

"Whoa, now that's a deer!" Pablo pointed.

Tyrone crossed him arms. "Should I be insulted?"

Tasha completely ignored the two boys as she dashed over to the marveled sight. Upon reaching it, she turned to the boys. "I need help," she said. Instantly, they were by her side. Tasha's unknown power.

"What do we do?!" Austin panicked.

"We need to stall them!" Uniqua thought aloud.

"No really? I was gonna suggest tell them!" Austin said sarcastically. Uniqua gave him a look.

"Austin! Uniqua! Where are you?"

The two looked behind them where Austin's parents were soon to emerge.

Suddenly Austin had an idea.

"Uniqua!" Austin said, "Close your eyes, count to 30, and i'll convince them were playing hide and seek. Then I'll hide them."

"Got it." Uniqua said

Uniqua covered her eyes.

"1...2...3" Uniqua said

Austin ran over to his parents.

"We're all playing hide and seek!" Austin told them, "Uniqua's it. Lets go hide!"

"That sounds like fun!" Mrs Kangaroo said

The three of them set off.

Austin led his parents through the island, far enough from Uniqua but not too far in which she would be lost. His parents followed him closely behind.

"What's Uniqua counting too?" Mrs. Kangaroo asked.

"Um...100?" Austin asked unsurly.

"100? Why so much, bud?" Mr. Kangaroo questioned.

"Well, um...we don't know the island!" Austin stammered. "See, we don't know where the hiding spots are, so Uniqua counts long so we can learn it."

Austin's folks nodded. "Makes sense."

"So, where should we hide, sweetie?" Mrs. Kangaroo giggled.

"Um...not sure. In that tree?"

Austin pointed to a tree that was big and hollow.

There was a crack big enough for them all to go in.

Mr and Mrs Kangaroo stepped inside.

"There's not enough room here for all of us." Austin said, "I'll go find my own."

Austin took off to find Uniqua.

Once they found each other and after Uniqua shouted out "Ready or not here i come!" as a cover they ran off to find the others.

Meanwhile Pablo and Tyrone were giving Tasha a boost.

"It said first we have to touch it's anter then its ear." Tasha said.

"I can reach the ear!" Pablo said

"Ok." Tyrone said, "On three Tasha you touch the antler and then Pablo touch the ear. ready? three!"

They were about to do it when Uniqua and Austin ran over.

"Guys!" Uniqua called. Her sudden outburst startled the balancing three and they tumbled down.

"Ow! What's the big idea, Uni?" Tasha muttered.

Uniqua and Austin panted a moment. "Its...my parents...t-they think w-we're...playing h...hide n' seek..." The three looked at Austin oddly as they picked themselves off of the ground.

"Excuse me?" Tasha asked.

Uniqua took deep breathes and finally was able to keep a standing sentence. "Did you guys find the map piece? We gotta hurry!"

"We found one of them and we almost had another when you surprised us." Tasha said

"Sorry about that." Austin said

"Its in this deer structure." Tyrone said, "You have to touch it's antler and it's ear to get it."

"I can get it!" Austin said

"You can?" Everyone else said.

"Yeah!" Austin said

Austin ran up to the statue and jumped relly high.

The others watched.

Austin pulled the antler like a lever and hit the ear like a button and the mouth opened up revealing a map peice.

Austin grabbed it and landed.

"Kangaroos are ble to jump really high." Austin said

"What else do you have like a kangroo?" Uniqua asked

Uniqua stepped towards Austin and looked at his stomach.

"I do not have pouch if thats what your thinking!" Austin said covering his stomach.

"Just checking," she teased.

"Well I'm not a girl," Austin said, rolling up the paper. Tasha sneaked over and slipped the piece out of Austin's hands. "Tasha!"

"The next and final riddle is-"

"How come you get to say it? Lay a reason!" Pablo asked, looking at Tasha with determination.

"Because I haven't read any riddles yet." she replied sternly.

"That's a good reason." he sighed.

Tasha smiled, sticking out her tongue. She looked over to the riddle and read, "Where a doubloon used to be a peice of map is waiting for me."

"Doubloon?" Tyrone wondered aloud.

"Hey!" Pablo said offendidly. "Am not! You are!"

"What?" Tyrone asked with confusion.

"Guys, we don't have time for this." Uniqua said. She walked over and quickly snatched the piece from Tasha's hands, putting it with the others in her book. "Alright, you guys go to the big tree with the hole in it. Austin's parents are inside."

There was an awkward silence. Until Pablo broke it, "And their in the tree because...?"

"Nevermind that, just go! Tell them your looking for us now but lead them away as Austin and I find the final piece." Austin ordered.

The three shrugged. "Okay," they agreed, and sped off for the tree.

"Think!" Austin said, "Whats the one place we haven't looked!"

"The wishing well!" Uniqua said

They ran as fast as they could to the well and peered inside.

There was a bucket in their with some coins but none of them were doubloons.

"Wait Austin." Uniqua said, "It said where a doubloon used to be."

"So what does that mean?" Austin said

Menwhile Tasha, Tyrone and Pablo were looking for Austins parents.

Suddenly Uniqua realised something.

"Oh no!" Uniqua said, "You said i was it! I have to go with them or your parents will get suspicious! good luck Austin!"

Uniqua ran off to join the others.

Soon she caught up with them and explained it.

Then they went off to find Austins parents.

Meanwhile Austin was on his own to find the last map peice.

He thought hard and then he figured it out.

Austin lifted the bucket up and underneath it was the last map peice tped on.

"I knew it!" Austin said, "Only he would hide them in places we wouldn't expect!"

"I better hide now." Austin said

"There you are!" Pablo smiled, finding Austin's parents.

"And there you are!" Mrs. Kangaroo smiled, coming loose from the tree along with her husband.

"Where's Austin?" Mr. Kangaroo asked.

"We haven't found him yet." Tasha shrugged innocently. "We're still looking. He should be here somewhere."

"C'mon, we should get looking." Tyrone said, pointing off into the direction they just came from. They agreed, knowing that Austin's smarts would have uncovered the last piece by now, so it was safe. They lead the two adults through the path to find Austin.

Soon they all got back together and after a while they sailed back to the cove.

"We're going back to the inn." Mr kangaroo said.

"We're going to play some more." Austin told them.

Once they were gone Austin told them he found the final peice.

"We have all the map peices!" Pablo said, "Now we can find the treasure!"

"First we have to put them all together." Tasha reminded.

They went to the picnic table and pulled out all their map peices.

After a while of assembling they had the map.

They all looked at it.

It was a map of smugglers cove but parts of it appeared to tell a story.

But what caught everyones attention was the riddle on the bottom of the map.

Austin read it out loud.

"An eyepatch is a clue. I left it just for you." Austin read.

They saw there was an x marked on the fort.

"The treasure!" Pablo said, "The treaasure is at the fort!"

"Well lets go!" Uniqua said

"And don't forget the map." Tasha said

They ran into the fort.

"I remember seeing something when me and Pablo came here before." Austin said

Austin pointed to some floor stones that were shaped like a big skull.

"Lift the eyepatch!" Tasha said

They lifted it up and inside was a bag.

"We found it we found it!" Pablo said, "We found the treasure of one eye pete!"

"Pablo," Austin said

"We're rich! We have it!" Pablo said

"Pablo." Uniqua said

"We found it!" Pblo said

"PABLO!" Tasha yelled

"Yeah?" Pblo said

"This isn't the treasure." Tyrone said

They opened the bag and inside were severl pebbles and another scroll.

"This isn't the treasure!" Pablo said

"What now?" Uniqua asked

"If we take this and look at the map we might know." Austin said

They all put the map next to the bag of pebbles and Austin picked up the scroll.

"Its more riddles" Austin said, "It looks like we have to put pebbles on parts of the map."

"Well read the first one." Uniqua said,

"Pick up a pebble and then put it down. On the duck pond in the center of town." Austin read.

Shrugging Tyrone put a pebble on the duck pond.

"Ahoy young mate! Place pebble two! on a house on an island! Now see how you do!"

"Thats also easy." Uniqua said

They put a pebble on it.

"The top of the lighthouse is easy to see. Tht is the place to put stone number three." Austin said

They put it there.

"Now listen to where your fourth pebble should go. On the map where you see two n's in a row." Austin said

It took them a minute but the found it on the duck pond inn.

"Out in the ocean I drew huge whale. Put the next stone down on top of its tail." Austin read

They put it there.

"In the center of town on the inn theres a duck. That is where your next stone should be stuck." Austin said

They put it down.

"Here is where the next pebble should go down. On the shape of a keyhole in the center of town" Austin said

They eventually found it in the place of a door.

"Find the umbrella that looks like a tree. Tht's where one more pebble should be." Austin said

That one took a minute.

"Do you see a snake? Thts really a trail? Put one stone on its head and one on its tail." Austin said

They found that was the trail around the duck pond.

"If you drop a stone on the boat thts on lnd. You'll find me treasure is close at hand." Austin said

They found that next to the boat store.

"Its starting to form something." Uniqua said

"On each smokey chimney put one pebble down. one;s on a farm and two more are in town." Austin said

They put a pebble on each.

"Put a stone on a fork where the stream meets the sea. Do you think you know where me treasure might be?" Austin said

They found litterally a fork in the stream.

"The next one should go on a capital L. Ha Ha! I've got me a story to tell!" Austin said

They found it on the word Lighthouse.

"Put down a pebble where lightnig struck and made poor old thunder lose its luck." Austin said

They put it on a lightning bolt.

"Shiver me timbers! is what m emates said. Put a stone on the eye of the storm overhead." Austin said

They put it on the eye drawn on the storm cloud.

"The storm on sea lead me crew to its fate. Alas. put a stone on me poor droawning mate." Austin said

They put it on a drowning man/

"Almost there." Tyrone said

"As old thunder sank I rowed to the shore. Put one stone over me with the oar." Austin said

They put it down.

"The shore that I rowed to looks like a moon. put one stone there. ha ha! You'll be findin me treasure soon!" Austin said

The put it on the place where shipwreck shore was.

"I'm free! no I'm not. See me hands in the air? On the soldiers around me put four pebbles there." Austin said

They put four stones on each of the soldiers.

"Only a couple more!" Uniqua said excitedly.

"After they caught me they lead me througj town. On the boat shop I passed put one pebble down." Austin said

They put a stone on the boat shop.

"Know what will happen if I don't break loose? One stone belongs on the knot of a noose." Austin said

They found that on the trail to the lighthouse.

"Last one!" Pablo said excitedly.

"I wer an eyepatch. so one eye pete is me name. Put your last stone on a 1 to finish me game." Austin said

It took a while to find it but they eventually found it on a fence.

Austin put the paper away and they all looked at it.

After a couple seconds of staring They all gasped at what they saw.

Mysterious ghostly lines appeared on the map. They connected the dots and made the shape of skull.

Then They all heard a ghostly voice in their heads.

"An eyepatch is a clue. I left it just for you."

"What was that?" Pablo said scared

"That might have been the ghost of one eye pete." Uniqua said

They all looked at each other.

"He said the same riddle on the map." Austin said

"An eyepatch is a clue." Tasha repeated.

They all looked at the map and saw the eyepatch was right over the tree next to the shed by the lighthouse.

They all ran over to the shed.

"Theres the tree." Uniqua said

"And it has a skull shaped knot." Tasha said

They all walked up to it.

"Let savor this moment." Austin said

They stayed there for a few seconds.

"Here it goes." Austin said

He reached up and pulled the eyepatch out.

Treasure fell from inside the tree.

"We did it!" They all cried

They started cheering happily when Austin noticed something.

"Wait wait!" Austin said, "Theres a note."

They stopped. Austin picked it up and read it.

"Tis a stormy night on the sea. Me treasure is safe. But not me. You found it friend. And you reached the end. A clever young mate ye must be. One eye Pete." Austin read

They all stared at the treasure. It was mostly doubloons But there were some other things.

There was A small box with diamonds, a pearl necklace shaped like a skull with a ruby eyepact, small box filled with gems, a golden mosqito, a jeweled butterfly, a diamond dragonfly, agold fish, a ruby eye, and a few other misc stuff.

While they were examining a figure stood nerby hiding and watching them.

"Those kids did it." He said, "They found my treasure. good for them."

The figure then walked away.

"Hey guys look!" Uniqua said,"Theres something else in the tree."

She pulled out another scroll, looked t it, then gasped

"Its another list of riddles!" Uniqua said, "And the signture is a newman!"


	3. A Newman

They all stared in silence.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Pablo asked

"It sure does Pablo." Uniqua said

"We're going on another treasure hunt!" Austin said

"Hey guys?" Tasha asked, "What should we do with this treasure? where should we put it?"

They all thought.

They all paced around the treasure wondering wherre to put it.

"I've got it!" Austin said

"What?!" The others said, "What is it!"

"A brilliant idea!" Austin said

"Go on." Tasha said

"Thats wht we need!" Austin said, "A brilliant idea! and I know just where to get it!"

Austin takes a huge leap and jumped out of the story.

With a thump he landed right next to Backyardgameboy at his laptop.

"Austin?!" Backyardgameboy said, "Your supposed to be in the story!"

"Yeah I know. sorry." Austin said, "But can you help us? we need a brilliant idea of where to put our treasure."

"Oh." Backyardgmeboy said, "Well I'll contact my friend CartoonCaster21 and we'll see what we can make."

"Ok/" Austin said, "Thank!"

With another leap Austin jumped back into the story.

Meanwhile...

The phone rings and CartoonCaster21 picks up. "Hello? Oh hey Backyardgameboy! What? Austin? Awesome! A brilliant idea? Cool! Lets get writing!"

"I say we head back to the inn and put the chest under one of our beds." Tasha suggested. "Then we can start with the riddles there."

"Smart thinking, Tasha." Tyrone complimented.

"Of for goodness sakes..." Tasha said shyly.

"Well? What are we waiting for? Lets go!" Pablo said eagarly.

They gathered up all the treasure and went back to the inn.

The plan was Austin would distract his parents while the others hid the treasure under their beds.

Austin then asked his parents about going to the pool later.

The others snuck in and hid it as planned.

After Austin had finished talking to them they went back outside.

Once the five were outside, they began to start for the next treasure before dinner.

As before, Austin took out the paper and read the first riddle, "A map piece was hidden right under a key. Its sitting there just waiting for thee."

Like before did the friends place on their thinking sockes and pondered. Where would they find a key? In this whole town! There were at least a zillion for every chest, car, doors -

Doors!

"Guys! I got it!" Uniqua smiled.

"What is it?" Austin asked.

"What do keys open? Anything right? But usually, a door comes to mind! And a door leads to a room! Well, what other place in all of Smugglers Cove would have keys to do that?" With her hand, she gestured to the building right behind them.

"The Inn!" they all said together.

They all crept inside and looked.

There were some keys hanging on hooks. The peice of wood they were hanging on also was shaped like a key.

Tyrone walked up to the front desk.

"Do you serve dinner here?" Tyrone asked

The others snuck around while he was distracting the clerk.

Austin looked hard at the key shaped peice of wood and thinking litteraly he turned it.

A panel opened showing their first map peice.

They grabbed it and left. Tyrone followed after them.

"I'll read the next riddle." Uniqua said

"Tucked behind a happy face is a peice of map to put in place." Uniqua said

"So we have to look for a happy face?" Tasha sid, "Thats ridiculous! where would we find that?"

"Not on you." Tyrone said

Tasha scowled only proving Tyrone's point further. Smartly, Tyrone nervously backed up. Tasha responded in crossing her arms and turning away.

"So...where do we find a happy face?" Pablo asked. "It could be anything: a drawing, a statue, a toy, a rock with a face - anything!"

"Can I help you kids?" The clerk wondered. The five looked over to him. He was a bird, a blue hawk it seemed. He looked at the main oddly since Tyrone had ended their strange conversation so suddenly.

"Uh...no." Pablo answered.

"I see...so, do you still need to know the dinner time then?" the clerk asked, raising his non-exsistant eyebrow.

"We could know the time." Austin replied. The clerk briefly glanced at his watch, brushing over it with his feathers. "Its a quarter to five."

"Thanks," Austin waved as they scurried out of the inn, leaving a very jumbled hawk.

They walked along the trail to the fort.

"Pablo said something about a smily face in the rocks so maybe he's right." Uniqua said

They walked over to the picnic table where there were several rocks.

"Start looking everybody." Pablo said

They all wlked around the rocks until.

"I found it!" Tasha said

They all ran over to her and saw a smiley face carved onto a rock.

After some hard lbor they broke it open and found the next map peice.

"Read the next riddle." Tyrone said

"Hm, I guess Tasha can have a happy face," Tyrone mused earning him an irritated punch in the shoulder by the girl herself.

"Lets see..." Uniqua said, peeking on the paper Austin held out. "Piece of map is in a pail. It will tell you a true pirates tale."

"A pail?" Austin repeated, rather confused.

"Easy one," Pablo noted, smirking some.

"Easy? Well if your so smart, tell us why its so 'easy'." Tasha urged, placing her hands on her hips. Pablo smiled, "Its easy because when someone says "pail", what's the first place that comes to mind?"

"The beach," Pablo's friends answered together. It was a slap in the face. Pablo smirked knowingly as he friends looked at each other. "Shipwrecked Shore!"

They ran to shipwreck shore and started searching for anything that looked like a pail.

Austin looked on the wrecked ship.

there were some scratch marks on it shaped like a bucket.

Austin peeled it off and grabbed the map peice.

"Ok." Austin said, "Shiver me timbers. a map peice just dropped! on a suitcase beneath a balloon that just popped."

"Suitcase?" Tasha asked, "Wouldn't that be the duck pond inn again?"

"No we were already there." Tyrone said

"So where could it be?" Uniqua asked

"But," spoke Pablo, "where would there be suitcases? Their only at the inn, there's no other place."

"Hm, maybe there's a motal or something?" Tyrone suggested.

"No, not on the map anyway." Uniqua replied, checking her map of Smugglers Cove. Then it dawned on her. "Hey guys, check out the map of the town." They walked over to peer at it. "Look, here's the inn. Suitcases are everywhere there. BUT, I think we need to go where they were before."

"The train station, of course!" Austin smiled. He pointed to the station that was shown on the map next to the town. "Suitcases are all over from people leaving or coming."

"Ooh, maybe Marikina is there." Tasha said, remembering the panda lady.

"Well, lets go see!" Uniqua said, folding away her map.

"If she is there she'd like to hear that we found one eye petes treasure and are following another one." Uniqua said

They walked into the train station and asked the man at the desk.

"Sorry." He said, "She won't be back for 3 more days."

"Oh ok." Austin said

He walked back to the others.

"By then we should have found this treasure." Uniqua said

"That would be even cooler." Tyrone said

"So we need to find a popped ballon and a suitcase." Tasha said, "I say we check the wallpaper."

They walked around looking.

Then Pablo found a room where the wallpaper was a big city.

They looked all over and finally found a boy with a popped ballon over a suitcase.

Pablo pecked at it with his beak and made a small hole.

Enough to get the map peice.

"Huh...these hidding places just get weirder and weirder." Tyrone mused.

"As long as I don't have to peck at anything anymore, I don't care where Pete stick's them." Pablo muttered.

"Good work, Pablo." Uniqua said. She turned to the next riddle, "A clown hid something under his hat. It another map piece. Imagine that."

"A clown? Do we have to go to some kid's birthday?" said Tasha.

"I don't think so...but where would a clown be in a pirates place?" Austin thought aloud.

"If its a clown," Tyrone started, "Then it is probably a decoration of some kind to appeal to kids. the only place that would try and bring in as many kids as possible is the"

"ICE CREAM STORE!" They all said

Suddenly Austins phone rang.

"Hello?" Austin said, "Uh huh. ok. i'll ask. Hey guys my parents want to know if we want to go get some more ice cream for dinner."

"Yeah!" they all said,

"They said yes." Austin said,

Austin hung up.

"There coming over now." Austin said, "we have to keep them distracted so one of us can find the map peice."

The five entered the ice cream shop. They waited a few moments before Austin's parents arrived. Ordering the same as last tine, the Backyardigans went to sit in a booth.

"OK guys, this is our chance." Uniqua said. "While Austin's mom and dad are in line and ordering, we look for the next riddle!"

"Gotcha," Pablo nodded. And unnoticed by the couple who waited patiently, the five kids slipped away.

They snuck into the back room.

When they looked around they saw several old boxes.

Sticking out of one of the boxes was an inflatable clown.

They ran over, opened it and grabbed the map peice before they all snuck back to their table.

Soon 5 dishes of ice cream arrived.

"Dig in everybody!" Austin said

They clanged spoons and them ate.

"My, my are you kids ever hungry." Mrs. Kangaroo mused, drinking her smoothie.

"We've been exploring." Pablo told, taking a spoonful of his treat.

"So we've noticed." Mr. Kangaroo said. "You kids have been all over! You must know ever inch of Smugglers Cove."

"Sorta, still looking around." Austin said.

"Well, we're going to go to the gift shop after this. See if there's anything interesting. Do you kids want to come?" Mrs. Kangaroo asked, finishing her smoothie off.

"I've wanted to look...there..." Tasha said, but stopped at Uniqua's look. Uniqua was silently reminding her friend they were on a treasure hunt.

"But I guess it can wait." Tasha said

"I think we are going to look around a little more then head back to the inn." Tyrone said

"Alright kids." Mrs kangaroo said, "But come back soon."

"We will." They said

Soon they finished their ice cream.

They walked out thanking the horse whose name tag read "Ken."

"We probably only have time for one more riddle." Austin said "Underneath a jewlry seahorse is a peice of a map of course."

"Does that mean we're going to find some treasure now?" Pablo asked

The others facepalmed

"No, Pablo, it doesn't mean that." Tyrone explained.

"Isn't the jewelry seahorse the treasuer?"

"No," Tyrone said, slowly. Pablo just looked puzzled. "I don't get it," he began, "the riddle just spat out some kinda treasure, but its NOT the treasure? That's messed up. I mean, that sure sounds like something a pirate would own."

Tasha suddenly snapped her fingers. "That's it! Pablo, you just gave me the answer!"

"I did?"

"Yes! I know where this 'jeweled seahorse' is!"

"Where?" The others said

"The meuseum of course!" Tasha said

"Oh." Uniqua said, "That makes sense."

They walked over to the meuseum.

Inside they saw that rosy wasn't near the self of pirate stuff.

"I'll keep watch." Austin said.

The others looked over the shelves.

Austi then heard voices that sounded familier.

He peered over the corner and saw Ken and Zorori talking quietly to each other.

Austin watched them

"What are they doing here?" Austin thought

"Hey." Uniqua said startling him.

"What is it?" Austi said

"We found it." Uniqua said

She was holding a map peice.

"Then lets go back to the inn." Austin said

They walked out and Austin listened to what the two were saying.

He heard the words, clever, treasure, you, next,

He though about this as they arrived at the inn.

Arriving at the inn, the kids decided to wait in the lobby for Austin's parents, so they walked over to the small lounge and picked out some couches to sit on. Pablo, Tasha, and Tyrone sat in a long couch. Across them, a table stood between where Austin and Uniqua sat. The five wanted to discuss what they got so far.

"Alright guys, we're making so much progress!" Pablo cheered.

"We have to hurry though, we'll be going home soon." Uniqua reminded.

"Hm...true. Maybe we should step up our game. Like, bring food with us tomorrow so we don't stop." Tyrone suggested.

"Austin?"

"Huh?" Austin asked, dazed.

"Is something wrong?" Uniqua wondered. Austin has subcontiously drifted into thought of the two. What were they speaking about at the mueseum? Should he tell his friends?

Austins parents arrived and brough the backyardigans to the room so they could change into their swimsuits.

Austin decided to just shrug off the conversation he heard.

The gang went into the pool with their swimsuits on and all dove in.

Uniqua watched the purple boy swim around gracefully with not a care in the world.

Then she joined him and they swam together for a while before it was time to come in.

After they all took a bath and changed into their pajama's they got a big blanket and some popcorn as they watched aliens in the attic.

Soon they ran out of popcorn.

"Robot Roscoe get some more popcorn please." Austin said

"More popcorn." Roscoe said as he walked across the counter carrying a bag of popcorn.

"You brought robot roscoe?" Uniqua said a little surprised

"Didn't I say that?" Austin said

Uniqua shook her head.

Roscoe gave them the bag of popcorn then went onto the nightstand to go to sleep mode.

As the movie was ending they were feeling sleepy and they all dozed off.

Uniqua fell over a little and her head rested on Austins chest.

They slept soundly through the night.

Uniqua was first to wake up and upon realizing her sleeping position, she bolted upwards, blushing madly. Luckily for her, being naturally pink, the blushing hue was almost invisable. Quickly, she decided to get up and get dressed and begin packing some snacks for their trip today. Austin woke up shortly after and noticed Uniqua was gone. He sat there until he spotted her hurrying to the kitchen, fully dressed.

"Uniqua?" Austin said. "A bit early, isn't it?"

Uniqua peeked in, "Uh, kinda. I'm just getting some snacks."

"Um...OK?" Austin stood up, stretching out. "I'm gonna go get dressed." he murmured. Uniqua nodded and returned to packing chip bags. In mere minutes did the remaining three begin to stir.

"Oh for goodness sakes, we fell alseep watching the movie again." Tasha muttered.

"We did?" Pablo asked

"Yeah we did." Tyrone said

The three got up and got dressed.

"Hey mom." Austin said to his mom, "We're gonna go out and we brought some snacks ok?"

"Alrigh sweety." Mrs Kangaroo said

They all went outside in the morning sun.

"Alright." Austin said, "Here's the next riddle. Horray is what you'll shout when you take my trophy's map peice out."

"A trophy?" Pablo said

"I wond-" but Austin didn't get to finished as Pablo budded in. "A trophy! That's the big treasure!"

"Um...I don't think so, Pablo." Tyrone reasoned.

Pablo huffed. "I'm trying! I mean, c'mon, a trohphy? Where do we find a trophy?"

"Pablo," Uniqua cut in. "Its not an actual trophy. That's a figured-speech. Its saying the next piece is as desired as his treasure." Pablo only crossed his flippers in response. These riddles shouldn't be so confusing in his defence.

"This is a brain-twister." Tasha mumbled.

"Well if its his trophy," Pablo said, "It is somewhere old like the boathouse attic."

The others shrugged and went up there.

After some searching in the attic they found a trophy. They unscrewed the base and a map peice fluttered out.

"I was right!" Pablo said

"So you were." Tasha said rolling her eyes.

"Whats next?" Tyrone asked

"In the center of a wheel is a ships map peice to steal." Austin said

"Actully I think I know that one." Uniqua said

She walked down to the floor and walked over to an old ships wheel.

Uniqua inscrewed the center and found the next map peice.

"Interesting," Tyrone mused.

"I know, to think these pirates actually hid their map pieces inside objects." Uniqua said.

"No, I mean how you randomly have a screwdriver...interesting." Tyrone responded. Uniqua just laughed and tucked the screwdriver away, handing the next riddle over to Austin.

"Under a label that has a tear there lays a map piece that looks quite bare." Austin read. He looked up from the paper to stare at his friends.

"Ok...so we're looking for a label of some sort." Tasha noted. "And it must be old. But, where would it be?"

"Maybe in one of the stores?" Tasha sugested.

"That could be it." Tyrone said

"Lets see." Austin said, "Theres the general store, the toy store, the ice cream store, and the fishing store."

"Lets split up." Uniqua said, "Tasha you check the toy store, Tyrone the general store, Pablo the ice cream store, and we'll check the fishing store."

They all ran off in different directions.

Uniqua and Austin entered the fishing store looking for some sort of torn label.

Austin was on his cell phone and was having a four way conversation with the other backies.

"I haven't found anything in all these toys but I'll keep looking." Tyrone said

"I haven't found many labels at all in here." Tasha said

"Well keep looking anyway." Austin said, "Pablo how about you?"

"I haven't found any map peice in this ice cream sundae." Pablo said, "I better check more of these."

They all sighed.

"Hey Austin I got something." Uniqua said

Austin walked over to see a big model of a fishing line holder that had a torn label.

"It has a torn label." Austin thought aloud. "This must be it."

Uniqua went over to the torn label and peeled the rest of it away. Beneath was the next map piece. "Genius." Uniqua smiled, holding the map piece proudly. Austin scratched his head, "Hmm...honestly, I wonder how old this stuff is for the pirates to hide the pieces."

"Smugglers Cove is old, Austin. Most of the stuff here hasn't been touched. Its like a preserve." Uniqua explained, walking over. Austin turned to his cellphone. "Hey guys, we got the map piece."

"Aw..." Pablo whined. "I didn't even get to check in he vanilla cherry swirl yet..."

"Pablo, chill on the ice cream, will ya?" Uniqua spoke into the phone. Austin smirked.

"Hey guys, I think I found something." Tasha reported.

"What?" Austin and Uniqua wondered.

"Check the next riddle and meet me at the toy store. I swear I found something!" Tasha exclaimed.

"Hey, I did too!" Tyrone told.

Uniqua and Austin turned to look at each other. "You go with Tasha, I'll go with Tyrone." Uniqua said, and then the two split off.

Austin ran into the general store.

He saw that zorori wasn't there.

"Whats up Tasha." Austin asked

"I found the next map peice." Tasha said "It was behind this big wooden carving of a penny."

At the toy store Uniqua walked in to find tyrone.

"What is it?" Uniqua asked

"I opened this toy treasure chest and found this map peice." Tyrone said holding it.

"Great!" Uniqua said, "I better call Austin."

"ustin Tyrone found a map peice!" Uniqua said in her cell phone.

"So did Tasha." Austin said

"Thats two at once." They both said

"This is great!" Tasha cheered.

"We're ahead of ourselves." Uniqua smiled, pulling out the next riddle. "OK guys, 'theres a piece of map behind a fruit. Taking it now will lead you to loot.'"

"Um guys..." Tyrone spoke. "Where's Pablo...?"

The four sighed, "The ice cream shop..." And off they went to find their flippered friend. Quickly, the foursome arrived at the ice cream shop, walking in. They easily found their friend...sitting in a booth...surrounded by empty cones and bowls...and currently eating a vanilla cherry swirl.

"How does he eat all that...?" Tasha wondered.

"Better question, how's he gonna pay." Uniqua muttered.

They grabbed Pablo and had to drag him out of the ice cream store.

"Wait!" Pablo said, "I didn't even get to the rocky road!"

They wandered over to the lighthouse and walked into the shed.

"This is one of the places we hven't looked in yet." Austin said

"Where could a peice of fruit be in a place like this?" Pablo asked

"How about here?" Uniqua asked

There was a big apple carved in the wall.

"...Why is everything carved? Honestly, who has time to carve this stuff? Seriously!" Pablo freaked. He was just upset over the ice cream, so his friends ignored the fussing. Meanwhile, Tyrone wandered over to the apple and tried to figure out if he had to open it or turn it or if it was pointing to something.

"I'm guessing we open it somehow." Tasha suggested.

"Why d'you think that?" Tyrone asked.

"The riddle technically says it." Tasha replied.

They stared at the apple and shrugged

"Tyrone?" Tasha asked, "do you think your antlers can get through?"

"I'll try." Tyrone said,

After some hard labor and a little pain Tyrone finally got the map peice.

"Ok next riddle guys." Austin said, "A map peice is hidden in a pirates coat. a sword points to it. just a note."

"I think that one is rather easy!" Uniqua said

"Yeah." Tyrone said rubbing his antlers.

"To the meuseum!" Tasha said

Swiftly, with their new map piece, the five friends hurried over to the museum, munching on some of the chips Uniqua had packed beforehand for it was almost lunch. Except Pablo...he wasn't feeling the greatest after nearly clearing the ice cream shop of all frozen treats. He wasn't in the mood to eat...for the rest of the trip. His friends laughed at that and had their treats before arriving at the museum's doors. A guard that stood in the front eyed them. He was an orange cat with piercing green eyes.

"Excuse me," he said. The kids looked over to him. "No food or drinks are allowed inside. If you please, deposit them." He kindly gestured over to the garbage can.

"Oh...sorry!" they said. Austin took the empty bags and tossed them into the trash bin.

The cat smiled and tilted the hat he was wearing. "Thank you, now, we hope you enjoy your time here."

"We will, thanks Mister." Austin waved as his and his friends hurried off to solve the riddle's...well, riddle.

They walked over to the coats and stared at them.

"We know this one belongs to one eye pete." Austin said

"That still leaves us with two more." Tasha said

They looked between the other two coats.

Tyrone walked up to one and moved a sleeve.

Sticking out of the pocket was a hanky with the monogram MP

"Well that helps us." Tyrone said

They looked at the other one and thought.

Tasha reached inside the collar and hidden inside was the map peice.

"We got it." Tasha said

"Ok next riddle." Austin said, "10 pennies in all but only 1 hid, a map piece for this little kid."

"Oh for goodness sakes! What the heck is THAT supposed to mean?!" Tasha muttered.

"I have no idea..." Austin admitted. "This ones a tuffy. We're gonna have'ta really think on this one." And so the five friends tried to think about the riddle. It was a real mind-twister and in all thought, thy hadn't the slightest idea where the next map piece was hidden.

"Hmm...it talks about money..." Uniqua recalled.

"Yes, and I think it says the pennies are all together in one place." Pablo pointed out. "So, where would money be?"

"A cashregister?" Tyrone shrugged.

"I don't think the pirates would hide the map piece in such an open and vunerable place." Tasha replied.

"But guys, it also says something about a kid." Pablo reminded. "Hm...I think I get it." he smiled, flapping his flippers eagerly by his sides. His friends looke at him, "You do?!"

"I think so! What place would there be lots of money but a kid put it there?" Pablo inquirred.

"I dunno...a piggybank?" Austin guessed.

"Nope, wishing pennies!" Pablo smiled.

"Wishing pennies?" Uniqua wondered. "You mean those coins kids throw in the fountains?"

"Or wells!" Pablo smiled, pleased with himself. The remaining four glanced at each other. There were no fountains, and the only well was located on the island. They would have to make another trip.

"How would we be able to go there?" Austin asked, "We'd have to ask my parents to come with us."

"Well." Uniqua said, "just call them and ask if they'll come."

"Alright." Austin said

He pulled out his cell phone and called them.

"Hey mom?" Austin asked, "We're wanting to go to the island again today. can you come with us?"

"Sure sweety!" Mrs Kangaroo said, "I'll be right there."

Austin hung up.

"Ok. my mom is coming with us." Austin said

The kids walked out of the museum, meeting with the cat again who kindly tilted his hat and wished them a nice day. They wished him the same and waited outside for Austin's folks. Following the signal on Austin's phone, his parents were able to find them and were there within ten minutes.

"Hi kids, were you learning about the history of Smugglers Cove?" Mr. Kangaroo asked, noticing the marvel building behind them. Pablo laughed some, "You could say that." Mr. Kangaroo slightly rose a brow.

"So, what's this about the island, sweetie?" Mrs. Kangaroo asked.

"We was wondering if we could go back. It was interesting." Austin explained.

"Oh, well it sounds like fun. The view was beautiful." Austin's mom agreed. "Alright children, lets go, but only for awhile. I wanted to get some shopping done later."

"Ooh! Shopping!" Beamed Tasha.

They all got another boat and sailed to the island.

They came to the fork in the road.

"Lets go for a hike through the forest." Austin said

The plan was that Austin, Pablo, Tasha, and Tyrone would keep Austins parents busy while Uniqua looked for the map Peices.

Uniqua snuck off and hid while the others walked into the forest.

Once they were out of sight Uniqua ran over to the well.

She looked carefully at the outside.

There were small carvings in it shaped like pennies.

there were 10 of them.

Uniqua stared at them looking for something about one of them that was different.

One of them was on the handle of the well.

Uniqua realised what to do.

She spun the handle until it popped off.

Inside was a tucked up map peice.

She smiled to herself and briefly admired the map piece. She then rolled it up and folded it away with the others before running off to catch up with everyone else. Following her familiar path, she arrvied back on the trail and ran upwards where she found everyone.

Mrs. Kangaroo smiled, "This is nice."

"It sure is, I'm glad we took this vacation." Mr. Kangaroo agreed. The two looked behind to the kids who were grinning back brightly. "Are you kids hungry? You've had nothing to eat but ice cream and snacks."

"A little," Pablo spoke. His friends glared at him. How was he hungry when he nearly ate out an entire ice cream shop an hour ago? The Kangaroo couple smiled. "I have some fruit in my purse and then maybe later we could go to one of those resteraunts."

"Sounds good, mom." Austin smiled. He leaned in over to Uniqua. "You have it?" She showed him the map piece in reply.

Uniqua passed the riddles to Pablo when Austins parents weren't looking.

Pablo then snuck off.

"a map piece came from the turtles shell! Grab it and then say farewell!" Pablo said, "That sounds the most likely riddle to be on this island."

Pablo thought.

"It can't be a real turtle." Pablo said, "But probably the best place to hide something like that would be in the old house!"

He ran inside.

"This place has the most round rocks in here." Pablo said, "It would be a good plce to hide it."

After some looking Pablo found a rock that was shaped like a turtles shell.

He reached inside and pulled at out.

Then pblo ran back to the others.

Arriving, Pablo handed his map piece over to Uniqua. The pink child gladly took it and then fished out the next riddle, giving it to Tyrone to find. Tyrone was sent off, "It surprises me that a skunk could have found a map piece. Who'd have thunk?" Tyrone knew this one was going to interpertate some thinking. He though feared the thought of having to get close to a skunk.

Tyrone walked through a different part of the forest thinking thats where he could find it.

He sat down tired on a rock.

"Where am I going to find something like that?" Tyrone said to himself.

He got up and looked at the rock he was sitting on.

Surprisingly it was shaped like

"A skunk!" Tyrone said

He broke it in half and inside ws the map peice.

He grabbed it and ran back to the others.

"I got the last one here." Tyrone whispered to them

"Uh, mom!"

"Yes, Austin?"

"We're hungry, can we go to that resteraunt you were talking about?"

"OK sweetie. Ready to go, hon?" Mrs. Kangaroo asked, looking towards her husband. He nodded with a smile. "Alright, c'mon kids. This hike has made me hungry too. Now what do you feel for? Chicken? Pizza? Pasta?"

"Well, what's here?" Tasha asked. That's when Uniqua pulled out her map of the place to look which place was good for them.

They looked at the map on their way back to smugglers cove.

"How about we eat here?" Uniqua said

They looked at a restaraunt on the mp called olive garden.

"Ok!" They all agreed,

They arrived and walked inside.

The Olive Garden was a lovely resteraunt. It looked new and freshly cleaned rather then old like majority of the places in Smugglers Cove. Inside, there were many occupied seats and booths. The seven walked in, going up to the desk. There stood a young fox. She looked over at the family and welcomed them.

"Welcome to the Olive Garden."

"Hi," the Backyardigans waved.

"How many in your party?" The fox asked sweetly.

"Seven," Mr. Kangaroo informed. "Two adults, five children under 10."

"Perfect! Please follow me. I'll show you your table." The fox kindly said. She walked around and over to an empty table, recently cleaned. She lay down two adult menu's and five kid menu's. Once that was done, she informed they will be assisted shortly and hurried away.

They had a big basket of breadsticks on the table.

Each of them ordered a plate of spagetti and meatballs.

Each of them ordered a drink too.

Austin ordered a grape soda.

Pablo ordered a root beer.

Tyrone ordered milk.

Uniqua ordered pink lemonade.

Tasha ordered regular lemonade.

The food was really good and the kids got to colour their menus. Austin's parents ordered some adult drinks and a big plate of meat with a side of salad.

After finishing their dinner, the fox returned to clear their plates. "Would that be all? We have a selection of desserts." Pablo instantly bounced happily in his seat. "Do you have ice cream?" He asked. The fox nodded. "Yes, would you like the special?"

"Yes please," Mr. Kangaroo ordered. The fox nodded and hurried off. She returned with a large try holding seven plates of chocolate and vanillia ice cream with fudge and whip cream. Pablo was practically leaping with joy.

After they all ate their ice cream They were all ready to go back to the inn for a rest.

They went inside.

By now Pablo was having a sugar crash.

They all got their swimsuits and went to the pool.

After another swim and a bath they rested on the couch for a movie.

"So what movie are we watching tonight?" Austin asked

"How about Wreck-It Ralph?" Pablo suggested. His friends nodded their heads in agreement and played the movie.

During the movie, Uniqua was sorting things in her head. She was thinking about the treasure they had discovered and the new trail of riddles. She hoped they could discover it all before time runs out.

Austin was thinking too, only his mind was set on the two that he caught chatting.

Pablo was also thinking, about how cool the movie was and how delicious ice cream was.

They fell asleep by the end of the movie.

The next morning They wanted to get a head start on the treasure hunt.

They ate breakfast quickly and soon headed out.

"We'll be back tonight." Austin told his parents.

they left and got the riddles.

"Fire the cannon to revel a map peice for you to steal." Austin read.

"Where are we going to find a cannon?" Tasha asked

"Theres one at the old fort but that seems a little too obvious." Pablo said

"Why don't we just look at the lighthouse?" Tyrone said, "We haven't been there yet."

"Ok." They all said

"Why would a cannon be at the lighthouse? We've been there, there wasn't one." Pablo said as the Backyardigans began their walk towards the said building.

Tyrone shrugged. "We've been travling from the same places, but we haven't been to the lighthouse yet, so I assumed." Pablo just rolled his eyes. Eventually, they arrived at the tall building and wandered inside its abandoned house. Walking about, there really wasn't much, and they didn't expect to find an old cannon just laying there - no matter how many pirates were here.

But they did find a cannon.

"Found it." Uniqua smiled.

"Seriously?" Tasha asked, walking over. She looked around, "I see no cannon."

"Up there," Uniqua pointed. Tasha followed Uniqua's gesture to a painting that hung on the wall. Tasha just went blank. "...You've got to be kidding me..."

A cannon was in the painting.

"How the heck do we fire a cannon in a painting?" Austin asked

"I have an idea." Pablo said

"What?" The others said

"This kind of thing ussually only works in very bad cartoons but I might as well give it a try." Pablo said, "READY! AIM! FIRE!"

The cannon fired and a peice of map fluttered onto Tyrones antlers.

Tyrone's ears flopped down as he stared at nothing in particular. "OK...this story far by makes no sense..."

"Hey, don't blame it on the writers," Austin said as he picked the map piece out of Tyrone's hands. Tyrone just brushed it off and turned to his friends. "What's next?"

"A map piece just fell, from the inside of the big brass bell." Uniqua read.

"A map piece already fell." Pablo pointed out.

"But this one has something to do with a bell." Austin reminded.

"Actully I remember seeing one." Tasha said

"Where?" Uniqua asked

"At the top of the lighthouse." Tasha said

They all ran up the stairs and just as Tasha said there was a bell there.

"Maybe we need to ring it?" Uniqua said

"Wait Uniqua." Austin said, "Thats not it."

"Oh ok so how do we get the map peice from it?" Uniqua asked

"No I mean thats not the right bell." Austin said

"What?" Tyrone said

They stared at him

"Its not made of brass." Austin said

"Its true." Tasha sid looking closely.

They looked around the room and them they all ended up staring at an old fashioned alarm clock. with two bells

"Are those made of brass?" Pablo asked aloud. Austin went close up to the alarm clock and scanned over the bells. He determined that they were made of pure brass. "Yep," he answered.

"Great!" Pablo cheered, but then wondered, "How do we ring those?"

"Hmm...maybe we need to turn it on...?" Tyrone suggested.

"I don't think so, maybe actually tap the bells?" Tasha offered.

"That's not it either." Uniqua thought.

They stared at it and thought,

"Well I saw this in tomb raider." Uniqua said, "There was a strange object in a clock so they just smashed it. Maybe we should do that too?"

"No." Austin said

"Lets just unscrew it." Tasha said

Austin unscrewed the bells and a map peice fell out.

"Well we got it." Tasha said

"Ok next riddle." Austin said, "Big pennies mean big luck. too bad that its stuck."

"Um...didn't we already find this one?" Pablo asked.

"No, different." Tyrone said simply.

Pablo glared. "Uh, should we check by the well again?" Tyrone shook his head towards the penguine. "I doubt it." Pablo sighed and sat on the floor. "Then where? This town is only so big and we've been everywhere."

"Maybe we should go to the fort." Tasha suggested.

"Why the fort?" Austin wondered.

"I get it," Uniqua smiled, "because we can see everything from there, right?" Tasha nodded happily. The boys liked the girls' idea and went with it. And quickly, they hurried their way to the fort.

They got to the top of the fort and all pulled out some binoculars.

They looked around for a while

"See anything?" Pablo asked

"Not yet." Tasha said

"Me neither." Austin said

"I think I see it/" Tyrone said

"Where?" Uniqua asked

"Its behind the mueseum!" Tyrone said

They ran down towards it.

"Behind the mueseum? Whad'ya see, Ty? Huh? Whad'ya see?" Pablo asked, running beside his friend. Tyrone answered quickly, "Not sure, just saw something! Lets go!"

Arriving, the Backyardigans began to look around their surrounding, hopeing Tyrone would be able to idenify whatever he spotted on the fort.

"See anything now?" Pablo asked.

"Not yet." Tasha said.

"Me neither." sighed Austin.

"I think I see it!" Tyrone grinned.

"Where?" Uniqua eagarly asked.

"Right there!" Tyrone said

They all looked to where he was pointing.

They saw several old flowers that hd been painted on the wall.

And one of them hd a penny in its center.

"Sheeesh." Pablo said, "With all these pennies we need to find we won't even need the treasue!"

"At least its better then when you and Uniqua kept losing my lucky penny." Tyrone said, "Twice."

"Um guys how do we get it?" Uniqua asked

"I know what to do." Austin said

"You do?" Tasha said

"If we can't pick it up we should just push it down." Austin sai, "I'll show you."

To demonstrate what he meant, Austin asked for a boost. True, he was the tallest of his friends, but he needed to climb on Tyrone's shoulders to reach the said penny. Once at the penny's height, Austin pressed it.

The Backyardigans watched carefully to see what would happen.

Another flower swung open and inside was a map peice.

Austin grabbed it.

"Why is it that I'm the only one who has no super stregnth?" Austin said

"What?" Tasha asked

"The goddess of weather, princess strong blossom, tyrone the strong, the flipper." Austin said, "It would be better if I had one."

"Your the smart one." Pablo informed as Austin hopped down. "There's the brawn, then the brains."

Austin shrugged casually. "I guess, but it would be cool to have super strength sometimes. We'd make a good team."

"We already do make a good team." Uniqua smiled, going over beside him.

Austin blushed and looked away from Uniqua

"I guess we do." Austin said

"So how many riddles are left?" Pablo asked

Austin looked over the list.

"One." Austin said

They gasped

"We almost found the treasure!" Tyrone said

"Read the last riddle!" Tyrone said

"A lost shackle has a treat. to make the map complete." Austin said

Austin's face paled slightly. He noticed the lighter shade in his friend's cheeks too. They all knew where this one would be. Um, sorta. Austin put the riddle and map piece away, looking towards his silent friends. "Um...did you all get that?"

"Yep...and we all know the one place where one would find a shackle..." Uniqua whispered.

"A dungeoun..." squeaked Pablo.

"I guess, we have to go there now...anyone have a flashlight? I'm pretty sure dungeons don't have light switches." Tyrone said, shrinking away. Out of the Backyardigans, as cool as he could be, Tyrone was the most fearful and nervous. Especially of old dark places.

"I don't think we need one." Pablo said, "There was a windoe in there and the door was open. and it was light in there the last time."

They agreed and went to the fort.

They stepped inside the dungeon.

"A lost shackle." Uniqua said

"There are two." Pablo said

"one on the floor." Tasha said

"One on the wall." Tyrone said

"We already did the one on the floor." Austin said

Austin pulled out his screwdriver and unscrewed the other shackle from the wall.

He carefully took it off.

Behind it was the final map peice.

Austin grabbed it and they all stared at it anxiously.

"WE DID IT!" they all cried

Uniqua smiling to Austin and saying, "That screwdriver really comes in handy. I'm glad we have a handyman on the team."

Uniqua pulled out the rest of the map peices and they started to put them together.

After a while they had it.

It wasn't a map but rather it told a story.

"I'll read it." Austin said

They listened as Austin read.

"I once was a pirate who lived on the sea. We sought after treasure my crew and me. Our many years on the sea were treacherous and tough. Then one day I knew I'd had enough. I settled for good here in smugglers cove. Go find the key to my vast treasure trove." Austin said

They stared/

"So we have to find a key." Uniqua said

"Look in the picture." Tyrone said

It showed the attic of the boatstore.

They ran over there and raced into the attic.

"Search the place!" Tasha ordered , "We have to find that key!"

They ran around looking.

"I found it!" Uniqua said

They ran over to her.

Uniqua held a key that was tucked between some beams.

They all turned to lok at the chest nearby.

Uniqua put the key in the lock and turned it.

It opened.

They looked inside to see

"Nothing." Pablo said

"Wait." Tyrone said

Tyrone reached in and picked up a note and another key.

"There are many more places where treasure can hide." Tyrone said, "In the toolshed theres a barrel. go see whats inside."

They looked at it.

"So we need to go around and follow these notes and keys." Tasha said

They ran off to the shed.

When thwy got there they saw a barrel that had a lock in it.

Tyrone tried the key and it fit.

They opened it and inside was another note and another key.

Uniqua picked it up.

"I did hide my treasure." Uniqua read, "The question is where. go try this key in the first lighthouse stair."

"i think I know that one!" Pablo said

They ran into the lighthouse and looked at the staircase.

on the first stair was a keyhole.

Uniqua took the key and put it in.

It fit.

She opened the stair to show another key and note.

"My turn." Tasha said, "Check the duck pond inn for the treasure I stole. This fourth key goes in a pictures keyhole."

"We're gonna have to cause a distraction." Tyrone said if we want to get that one.

They walked to the inn.

Luckily no one was bebehind the desk.

Tasha and Pablo ran to the Painting while Austin, Uniqua and Tyrone watched for anyone.

Tasha opened the painting and Pablo pulled out a note and key befor they shut it.

They all ran outside to get the next one.

"The island's the next place my gold might be hid. In the house check the fireplace. Its really a lid." Pablo said

"We have to go to the island again!?" Uniqua said

"My parents probably won't want to go with us." Austin said

"I can get it!" Pablo said

"You can?" Tyrone said

"Yes!" Pablo said, "Because I'm Pablo the swift!"

"Well alright." Austin said, "But you better hurry."

They ran to the dock and Pablo jumped into the water with the key.

He swan to the island as fast as he could.

Pablo ran into the house and found a keyhole in the fire place.

He opened it and grabbed the next key and note.

Then he swam back to the dock.

"I'll take that." Austin said

Austin read the note.

"Another short hint for where my treasure could be. On the wheel of my ship is the place for this key" Austin said

They ran into the boatstore sinse there was a ships wherrl there.

Austin removed the center of it and there was a keyhole.

He put it in and turned it.

Then Austin spun the wheel around.

The wall slid open to reveal treasure.

"WE FOUND IT!" They all cheered

"Wait theres a note here." Tyrone said

He picked it up and read it.

"My tale is a secret. This hiding place too. Please keep both safely. I trust only you. Now just a boatbuilder. I locked up my past. No longer a pirate. I'm a new man at last. A. newman." Tyrone said

They all looked at the treasure.

There was a golden ships bell, a silver candlestick, a huge ruby, a silver plate, several jeweled necklaces, a gold parrot with a ruby eye, a chest with gold and jewels, a newmans pirate hat and other misc. stuff.

A shadowy figure watched them through a window.

"Well. they found mine too. those kids are something. but will they find her treasure?" the figure said before walking off.

Austin's ear flicked, having the slight feeling they were being watched. But nobody was there. "Guys," he said, "lets gather up this treassure and head back to the inn."

"OK," they agreed. With Uniqua's backpack, they filled it all the way with the treassures. They were lucky it all fit, but they didn't question the unlogical works of cartoons. Once packed, they headed back to the inn - not in any rush, mainly because Uniqua was having trouble with the weight on her shoulders.

Arriving to their room, they were instantly greeted by Austin's parents.

"Kids! I was just about to call you!" Mrs. Kangaroo smiled. "Its pretty late, and we ordered some pizza."

"Its on the table." Mr. Kangaroo informed, holding a slice in his own hand with a bite in it.

The Backyardigans gladly helped themselves to the food - after depositing the treassure with the rest in their shared room. Pablo ate the most, being a growing penguin and all. After the tiring day, the five friends were hungry and tired and weren't in the mood for a swim in the pool, so they just took a bath and settled in front of the TV in their pyjamas, watching cartoons.

They all slowly nodded off as it got late.

Uniqua was the last one to fall asleep.

Uniqua put her head down on something warm and soft. She instantly fell asleep.

If Uniqua was awake she would have seen that she was lying her head on Austins chest.

They slept on as Uniqua was lulled by Austins breathing and heartbeat.

"Austin and Uniqua, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G-!" a giggling voice sang. The two said kids opened their eyes to see what all the singing was about. Pablo stood beside them, smiling with held laughter as he sang. He looked directly at them. At first, the two were confused - still dazed by sleep-blurred eyes - but quickly they realized. They pulled apart, a red hue glowing their cheeks.

"First comes love, then comes marriage! Then comes the baby in the baby carriage!" Pablo sang, completeing his unnessasary song.

"PABLO!" Austin and Uniqua screamed.

Pablo merely stuck his tongue out at them - before getting hit in the face with a yellow-dotted pillow. The two were surprised. They looked over to see Tasha smirking. "Your welcome." she said to them.

"Thanks," they replied.

"Not cool." muttered Pablo.

"So what should we do now?" Uniqua asked, "We found the treasures."

"Yeah but." Austin said

"But what?" Tyrone asked

"But I want to go back and tke a closer look at thehiding spot." Austin said, "I have feeling we missed something."

The decided to head out after they got dressed and ate.

They opened the secret passage and Austin took a look.

"Hey guys." Austin said, "There's a peice of paper o" the ceiling."

Austin pulled it out and looked t it.

"Its anotther list of riddles!" Austin said, "By Mary peirce!"


	4. Mary Peirce

"The third pirate?!" Pablo asked, bewildered.

"Yep, and boy these look tough." Austin replied, mentally reading over the riddles he had just uncovered. Uniqua walked over, a somewhat nervous expression on her face. "Um guys...we gotta find this treasure...today! We're leaving tomorrow!"

"Oh no!" they gasped.

"We better start! Its almost nine!" Tyrone spoke, pointing franticly at his wristwatch that wasn't there before.

"Guys." Austin said, "The way I see it, the only way we'll be able to find it in time is if we split up."

"Split up?" Pablo said

"He's right." Tasha said, "Its the only way we can do it."

"Well ok." Tyrone said, "How will we split up?"

"We'll need to devide the riddles." Uniqua said, budding in. "Lets see...there's twenty riddles in total..." she pondered, trying to devide it evenly.

"So we each get 4 riddles if we split on our own." Austin stated. He was always the "geeky" one of his friends. Uniqua smiled and nodded her head "okay".

She looked towards her friends. "OK guys, lets split the riddles!" And literally did she mean, Uniqua split up the paper into five pieces, each holding four riddles. She handed the papers randomly to her friends. Once they all had a paper, they agreed to meet back by the inn.

And quickly they split off.

Pablo looked at his first riddle.

"a piece of map I now do see! Its in the sprinkles jar waiting for me!" Pablo said

Pablo grinned as he realized what that meant.

"More ice cream!" Pablo said

He ran into the ice cream store and ordered the biggest ice cream sundaae they had

Uniqua glanced at her piece of the riddles, "Inside a wagon map piece to see. A pirate was the one who hid it from thee." she read aloud. Thinking the sentece over, she happily snapped her pink fingers to a conclusion. Where else would a wagon be found? "The shed!" she smiled, answering her own question. Quickly, the young girl hurried off towards the shed.

Austin checked his riddles.

"pirates were in town. A map piece is proof behind a stamp on a roof." Austin said

Austin ran to the fort.

He was about to go to the top and look out at the town when he heard someone in the dungeon.

He peeked inside and quickly hid.

he saw Ken and Zorori talking.

Austin kept an eye on the town and an ear on the conversation.

"I can see everything from up here." Austin said to himself, "Theres Pablo at the ice cream store. again"

Tasha wandered aimlessly, trying to think about her riddle. "Sneak in like a clever theif and steal the map piece under the giant leaf." Is what her riddle said. She was repeating it silently throughout her mind...until the idea flicked on like Tyrone's nightlight.

"Hey, the picnic table! Its surrounded by trees and leaves and stuff!"

Tyrone wandered around looking at his riddle.

"I see a map piece to grab clenched tightly in the claw of a crab." Tyrone said, "The only place there could be crabs is at the beach."

Tyrone ran off to shipwreck shore to look for some kind of crab.

Meanwhile, Pablo was inside the ice cream shop. His face was closely against the glass. He would've been pressed against it if only it wasn't for his beak which prevented him to do so. This was the closest he'd get. Anyway, he was trying to decide if he should order an ice cream while looking for the map piece. But it was too hard to pick!

Uniqua was going through the shed checking out the wagon.

She heard a noise and looked outside.

"Tyrone did you find any yet?" Uniqua asked

"No not yet but I'm looking for one here at the beach." Tyrone said, "and you?"

"No but I'm looking." Uniqua said

She went back to the wagon and thought.

Tasha arrived at the picnic table and began to scan the green scene. There were various trees and bushes - all containing their own wall of a million leaves. Which leaf was the one she was supposed to find? The riddle told her it was large, but...she just didn't seem to understand. There was no place greener then here, so she knew this was the place.

But then...where was she supposed to be looking?

Tyrone was looking all over shipwreck shore for a crab.

"It has to be here." Tyrone said

Tyrone checked the ship and finally he saw a crab.

Tyrone started to follow it.

Tyrone wasn't sure exactly why he was following this certain crab. Maybe because it was the first crab he spotted when after five minutes of aimless search. So he didn't want to loose it.

The crab scurried around, walking sideways. Tyrone walks a ways away because the crab snapped its clippers when he got too close, so he stayed further off, but watched where he was going.

Austin had figured out where the map peice was but he wanted to stay a minute and listen to the conversation.

"Shes comin back today." Ken said

"Wait till she hears who is going to " zorori said

"Shh." Ken said, "lets save it until she arrives at 3:25."

Austin hid as they headed back out.

Once they were gone Austin went down, said hi to Tasha and headed towards the meuseum roof.

it took 10 ice cream sundaes but Pablo finally emptied the sprinkles jar.

at the very bottom was a coaster.

Pablo took it out, popped it open and got the map peice.

Then Pablo walked out with a brain freeze

Uniqua unscrewed all the wheels and inside was a roled up peice of the map.

She grabbed it and put the wagon back together.

Then Uniqua walked out to try nd find the next map peice.

Tyrone had followed the crab to a small cave.

Tyrone checked inside and making sure there were no crabs in there he reached in and felt around.

He felt some paper.

Tyrone pulled it out to see it was attched to a crab.

Tyrone dropped it and screamed.

But then he noticed it was just a dead crabs arm.

He pried the map peice from it and looked at his paper

Austin climbed onto the meuseum roof to look for it.

He saw some crazy paving tiles that where shaped like a stamp.

Austin had to look under each and every one of them.

Finlly 2 minutes later he found it.

Austin jumped down.

Tasha sat on a rock thinking how she would find a giant leaf.

"Maybe if I stand up on the rock I can see it." Tasha said

She stood up and llooked around.

She still couldn't find it.

Tasha lowered her head in defeat and saw the rock she was standing was shaped like a ;eaf.

"It was under me the whole time!" Tasha said as she jumped off and grabbed the map peice from under it.

Once she had the next piece, Tasha moved on to the next riddle she had in her possesion. "To find this piece you need pure luck. Its hidden behind a duck."

She smiled, "Easy one!" she boasted, tucking away the riddles and map piece. There's only one place she knew that had ducks in all of Smugglers Cove. Obviously the Duck Pond Inn, right before the grand Duck Pond itself. There were many ducks there.

Tyrone read his next riddle.

"a piece of map in a shiny house is found in the place of a mouse." Tyrone said, "That must mean the lighthouse!"

Tyrone ran to the lighthouse to look.

Austin pulled out the next riddle he had with him, "Behind some apples that fell and crash, take the map piece and dash." Thinking over the riddle, Austin quickly linked it with the general store, as where else were there apples at Smugglers Cove? Certainly there were no farms nor trees. Trusting his suspison, he hopped over towards the said store.

Pablo looked at his next riddle.

"youll find a map piece for thee in the hole of a tree." Pablo said, "Does that mean I have to go to the island again?"

Meanwhile, Tasha had arrived at the Inn and was looking about. The pond wasn't too far off and she could see some ducks waddling along the shore or swimming in its waters. But something told her the ducks at the pond would know nothing of the map piece. Instead, she decided to look inside the inn for any answers - there were defiantly some ducks in there.

Uniqua looked at the next riddle.

"there was a star behind a frame now it's a map piece to claim." Uniqua said, "could that be the meuseum? no. they don't have famous paintings there. but i did see one at the lighthouse."

Uniqua ran off to the lighthouse.

Arriving at the lighthouse, Uniqua instantly found some paintings hanging off the walls like they had been all those other visits. No she just had to make the correct guess to which frame was the one discribed in her riddle.

Austin walked into the general store.

"Hi there Zorori." Austin said

"Hey there Austin." Zorori said, "What can I do for you?"

"What can you tell me about the souvineers here?" Austin said

Zorori turned around to look and Austin leaned over to see a note pad with two phone numbers scribbled on it.

ustin memorized them just as Zorori came back.

Meanwhile, Pablo had gotton on one of those Farry Boats that ride from one shore to the next. He got one that was leaving to visit the island. As long as you were staying at Smugglers Cove, you were allowed to get on.

The boat parted from the shore and sailed out for a few minutes before arriving to the island. Pablo tried his best to weasel out of the crowd.

Tyrone ran into the lighthouse and met with Uniqua.

"Hey which of these paintings would have a star?" Uniqua asjed

"One at night?" Tyrone said

Tyrone ran upstairs.

Uniqua shouted a "thank you" and went to go look for a picture with a star as Tyrone continued to run up the stairs.

Meanwhile, Zoroir returned to the counter, facing Austin.

"What would you be looking for?"

"Anything really," Austin said.

"Well," Zoroir began, "We do have some statues, snowglobs, postcards..."

Tasha had wandered into the inn looking for a duck.

"There are several here." Tasha said

Tasha started looking behind each of them

It took her awhile, having to search each duck, until she came across something

Tasha found an old wall decoration shaped like a duck and inside it was the map peice.

She grabbed it and put the decoration back.

Then Tasha ran outside for her next riddle.

Uniqua was still walking about the lighthouse, hearing thumps from upstairs everytime Tyrone's heels made contact with the floor.

What he was looking for, she didn't know.

Finally, Uniqua spotted an old painting, Abd visible in its features was a star

Pablo finally got onto the island.

"The most likely place for trees would be the forest." Pablo said

He ran off into the forest.

While in the forest, Pablo thought he knew exactly which tree to go. He wandered a little while furthur until he came to a familiar tree with a gaping hole in it.

"This is the tree where Austin's parents were hiding in earlier!" Pablo smiled, looking into the hole, hoping his guess was correct.

Pablo looked through it hard until he found a map peice,

Then Pablo climbed out and read his next riddle.

"Theres no tresaure here oh well. but a map peice is behind a shell." Pablo said, "Thats an easy one!"

Pablo turned on the heels of his feet and scampered off. "I know where there's a shell on this island! Its so obviouse!"

Pablo got to the well and thought.

"This is just like from "Thomas and the magic railroad!" Oh well! and a shell means water!" Pablo said

Pablo cranked the handed untilt he bucket was up and reached underneath it.

Then he felt a shell along the smooth surface.

He pulled it out and inside was the map peice.

"On a purple flower what do I spy? A map piece from a butterfly." Pablo read. He titlted his head somewhat in confusion. "Huh," he wondered, "do I need to catch a butterfly? I'm not too good at that..."

Uniqua was checking the painting that Tyrone had said.

She looked behind it, and found nothing.

Then Uniqu removed the frame and a map peice fell out.

The next riddle read, "I see a piece of a treasure note! Its held by the man in the yellow raincoat." Uniqua smiled, remembering one of her friends pointing out a yellow raincoat by the toy store awhile back.

"Hey, Tyrone!" she called.

"Yeah?" he called back.

"Where was that raincoat you guys saw before?"

"iTs in the toy store near the front window!" Tyrone called

He heard Uniqua leaving as he reached into the mouse hole.

He pulled out another map peice.

"ok next riddle." Tyrone said

"Thanks!" he heard Uniqua call before she left.

"Spider legs hold a piece of map. Grab and don't get caught in its trap." Tyrone groaned after reading the riddle. "This is obviouse...only the fort dungeon would have spiders...great, of course I get the spooky riddle."

Austin had secretly found the map peice hidden behind the wall behint the apples.

Austin walked out with his new map peice and a couple postcards of smugglers cove.

"Turning the pages of a book will give you a map peice so take a look/" Austin read., "Thats goona be tricky."

Meanwhile, Tasha had figured out what her new riddle meant. "What falls onto the floor behind a flag? A map piece to snag." She smiled to herself, that was an easy one! Where else would there be a flag to begin with in a small town? Obviously at a place that held history, the meuseum pirtaes exhibit! It was so obviouse.

Quickly, she made her way, expecting to find a flag.

Pablo went to the house since it was the only area on the island he hadn't checked.

The looked around for anything that looked like a purple flower.

"Aha!" Pablo said

Pablo found an old purple colored rock shaped like a flower with a butterfly on it.

Pablo pulled it loose and inside was a map peice.

Pablo grabbed it and then got on the boat back to smugglers cove.

"This ride could take a while." Pablpo said

Pablo waited awhile and decided that he somehow needed to let his friends know he'd found all his map pieces. Kindly, he waddled over to a bear woman. She had a scarf wrapped around her head and wearing a sweater over a long skirt. Next to her were three little bears with the same cream-coloured coat.

"Excuse me, ma'am." Pablo said. The bear woman looked over and smiled, her three cubs suddenly becoming silent and shy.

"Hello little boy, are you lost?" she asked.

Pablo shook his head, "No, miss, but I was wondering. Would you happen to have a phone?"

She blinked. "Um, yes I do."

"Could I borrow it? I need to call someone."

The bear hesitated, but soon pulled out a small flip-up cellphone from her purse that sat beside her. She handed it over to Pablo, watching him as he dialed.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Austin." Pablo greeted.

"Hey, Pablo. What's up?"

"Just wanted to let you know I found all four of mine."

"Really? That's great!"

"Yeah, so, I'm on the farry coming to shore."

"You were at the island?"

"Yeah."

"OK, well, we're still looking. I don't think anyone else is done. When you shore, just keep an eye out for one of us."

"OK."

"OK, see you."

"Bye," Pablo hung up the cellphone, looking back over to the woman and her cubs. "Thank you very much, ma'am." he thanked, handing her back her phone. She nodded, tucking the phone away.

Uniqua went into the toy store.

She looked around for the toy the riddle said,

eveentually she found it and started looking.

Underneath its hat was the map peice.

The next riddle read: "In the cork is a map to see. A pirate left it for thee."

Uniqua eyed the riddle questionably. This was confusing. If the riddle was speaking of a cork from a bottle, she wasn't sure if she would ever find the actual bottle it was specifically reffering to.

"Hm, there's no icky bars or any place like that. So where would I find a single cork?"

Tyrone had wanded up to the fort.

"This is the most likely place where I'll meet spiders." Tyrone said

Tyrone walked into the dungeon and started looking.

There were many spiders crawling about as disturbing as that was. Tyrone didn't want to walk to deep in due to this, even though he knew he had to find the next riddle.

"Man, why do I always end up here?" he mutters.

Tyrone stood on a stool to get a higher view.

Then he saw several cracks in the wall.

Tyrone took a closer look and saw it was kinda shaped like a spiders web.

Tyrone broke it open and grabbed the map peice.

"I am so glad it wasn't real spider." Tyrone said in relief.

Tyrone opened the riddle, "Theres a piece of map no doubt, under the thumb its sticking out."

Austin had thought of where to find a book but there were too many places.

"I know!" Austin said

Austin pulled out his cell phone and called Tasha Tyrone and Uniqua

"Hey guys!" Ausitn said, "I need help. tell me all the places you guys found map pieces."

"Toy store, shipwreck shore, shed, lighthouse, Duck pond inn, general store, meuseum, picnic table, fort, island and ice cream store." Uniqua informed. "But we're still looking for some."

"Ok thanks guys!" Austin said before he hung up

"Lets see." Ausitn said, "That leaves the train station, the boat building store, and the fishing store"

Austin headed to the train station since it was the most likely place of the three to find a book.

Austin thought over, a train station was a pretty odd place to look for a book, but considering his other options was a boating store and a fishing store, he really thought he'd have better luck at the station.

"Hmm...but where would this book be?"

Austins ears perked as he heard someone talking.

The voices sounded familier.

Austin turned and saw that it was coming from the other room.

Austin didn't want to be seen so he put his ear to the wll and listened. Austin couldn't identify the voices because of the wall but they sounded familier.

"you said they did what?"

"you heard us correctly"

"And their going after yours too."

"Do you really think that they can?"

"Well they got 2 so they might be able to get it."

pause

"when they do stould we tell them?"

"No. they can find it but lets not tell them"

Austin heard someone coming so he ducked behind the bench.

Meanwhile, Tyrone hadn't known what his riddle meant by a thumb. He wasn't sure where to look first

"Well if Austin went to the train station then I should go to the fishing store." Tyrone said, "Its more likely to have some kind of glove."

Tyrone walked over to the fishing store and started looking

He walked over to where some gloves hung, trying to figure out if they could mean anything. "Maybe I'll find a map piece inside the gloves...?" Tyrone wondered somewhat aloud.

After Tyrone checked all the gloves he found nothing.

"Come on." Tyrone said to himself, "I need to think outside the box."

Tyrone closed his eyes and thought,

"Out side the box." Tyrone said

Sudenlly Tyrone had an idea.

"Its a long shot but it might work." Tyrone said

Tyrone snuck into an old storage room.

He looked thourhg several posters until he found the one.

"Battle for bikini bottom." Tyrone said

the poster showed spongebob being attacked by several robots. one of them was called G-love.

"I do question why there's posters in a fishing store...especially one of a cartoon like this on an old island...but I guess how we've got the ability to pull random objects out from nowhere I shouldn't question." shrugging, Tyrone began to get an idea to what the poster could mean.

Tasha had arrived at the mueseum after hwe wlk and looked around for a flag.

She walked back into the pirates exhibit where there were a couple flags

"But how do I figure out which one?" Tasha said

She began to walk around, "The riddle said there was something behind the flag...but I can't possibly look behind them all...or can I? Hm, wish these riddles weren't such mind-bending!"

Tasha had decided to just check behind them all.

She strted looking when.

"Hi"

Tasha whirled around to see Uniqua surprised

"Oh its just you/" Tasha said relieved

"Yeah I need to look for some kind of cork here." Uniqua said

"Try the pirates objects." Tasha said shrugging, "and once you do can you help me find a map peice behind a flag?"

Uniqua agreed and hurried off to the pirate objects, promising to be back as soon as she found her map piece. She arrived towards the objects and began to hastely look round, reminding herself Tasha was waiting and she was rather impatient at times.

"Ok think." Uniqua said "Cork. bottles,"

Uniqua looked for a bottle and saw one with a cork in it.

She cautiously opened it and the map peice ws inside

Quickly she grabbed it and rushed over to Tasha who was tapping her foot to pass time, still eyeing the various vivid flags.

"I'm back," Uniqua informed.

Tasha looked over her shoulder, "Okay, good, I really need your help. This is my last riddle, I wana hurry up."

The flags each had a picture of a skull and crossbones with some minor additions to each

"This one has an eyepatch so it must be one eye petes." Tasha said

"This other one has a sword in its mouth." Uniqua said, "That must be mary peirce."

They looked behind it and they saw the map peice.

Austin was still hiding under the bench. He wasn't sure what to do to avoid those people

Eventually they left.

Austin crawled out releived.

He walked into another room and saw several books.

Eventually he found the map peice.

As he left he passed a clock that said 3:45

Tasha and Uniqua had both found the last of theirs.

"Lets call Austin." Uniqua said

Tasha pulled out a cell phone

"Whats up guys?" Austin asked

"We both found all of ours!" Tasha said

"Great." Austin said, "Go to the docks and wait for Pablo."

"You got it." Uniqua agreed. Without another question, she wished the purple kangaroo goodluck before putting her phone away, pulling Tasha along towards the docks.

Austin hung up his cellphone and quickly hurried to complete his last two riddles. They needed to finish, they were leaving tomorrow morning!

"a piece of map is what you earned. It came to you as the globe turned." Austin said

He thought for a minute.

"Well i might as well check the boat shed." Austin said

Austin wandered off towards where the boat shed was located. Once arriving, he pushed open the old door to let himself in. Looking around, the shed was filled with all kinda of ship materials like before, so finding a globe would most likely be found here. He begun searching.

...

Pablo was waiting at the docks when he heard someone calling his name.

"Pablo! Pablo!"

The said penguine looked over to see two of his friends hurrying over. He smiled at them, "Well it took you guys long enough!"

"Sorry," Uniqua appologized. "We past a store and-"

"I saw these adorable red ruby earings! And you won't believe this! They come with a matching bracelet and headband!" Tasha exclaimed with excitement. Uniqua just facepalmed herself as her hippo friend continued to explain how beautiful the accessories were. Pablo raised up his fins to silence Tasha, getting dizzy and very confused when she somehow changed the topic to makeup.

"Whoa! Whoa! OK, I get it. You like the colour red. Can we go now?"

Tyrone got the poster map peice and checked his last riddle.

"That's a piece of map I hope. Take it from the snake on the rope." Tyrone said, "You hvae got to be kidding me! a crab, a spider, and now a snake!?"

Tyrone went over to the boat shed seeing how it was the only placew left.

Tyrone walked into the boat shed after he finally arrived, and was surprised to see Austin already there, rumaging through some old map pieces.

"Austin?" Tyrone wondered aloud.

Austin looked up, an old map sitting carelessly on his head, "Ty? What're you doing here?"

"Apperently there's a snake I need to find."

"What?! There's a snake in here?!" Austin jumped up out of the pile of papers and leaped over to his moose friend. "There should really be a warning or something."

"Hey, I'm the one who somehow got all the riddles that include animals that snap." Tyrone muttered.

"Good luck with that, I need a globe I think." Austin replied.

The two of them looked around for a globe or a snake.

"It seems so weird there would be a snake in here/" Tyrone sid

"too weird." Austin said, "Read me your riddle."

"That's a piece of map I hope. Take it from the snake on the rope." Tyrone said

"Well maybe you should just look for a rope insted of a snake." Austin said

"I hope your right." Tyrone said

"There's lots've rope in here...like this practically looks like everything you'd find in the base of a ship." Austin said.

"In that case, I really hope the rope just looks like a snake."

With that, the two boys begun searching for their own riddles, and even for the other, helping each other out figruing they might just get this done quicker. They were the only two left with riddles and it was almost time for them to head back to the inn for dinner.

...

"So where's Tyrone and Austin? I was just talking to him on the phone." Pablo asked.

"You have a phone?" Tasha asked, surprised.

"No, I borrowed some lady's phone."

"Um, ok."

"Well, we just stopped talking to Austin, I don't know where he was going. We can always call again, maybe we can help him with his last riddle." Uniqua suggested.

"Yeah, and Ty is taking long too. Maybe Austin knows where he is and I can go give him a hand." Tasha smiled.

"Alright, give me a sec." Uniqua said, taking out her own phone her mother hand lend her in emergency and dialed Austin's borrowed phone's number. It rung a few times before the said kangroo actually picked up.

...

"Hello?"

"Hey, Austin. Its Uniqua."

"Oh hey." Austin smiled, reading an old compass he just stepped on.

"Who is it?" Tyrone questioned from his spot on the other side of the room. He was currently busy with an old piece of rope that had been chewed by something. He hoped that same something hadn't messed with the map piece.

"Its Uni," Austin told him.

"Oh, alright." he nodded, quickly returning back to his observation.

"What is it, Uni?" Austin wondered, dropping the old compass.

"Tasha and Pablo are here with me, its getting close to dinner. Where are you and are you with Tyrone? I heard a voice."

"Yeah, we're at the boat shed looking for the last map pieces."

"Ask them to come and help!" Tyrone said.

"Can we come help?" Tasha spoke, taking Uniqua's phone who eagerly pulled it away.

"Yes, that'd be helpful. This place is messed and apperently we don't want to dig to deep. Possibility of a snake."

"Ugh," Tasha muttered, "sorry I offered to help..."

Uniqua and Pablo shot her looks clearly saying 'that's rude'. "Snakes are icky and slimy, I don't like them!" she defended, stubbornly crossing her arms.

Uniqua rolled her deep shaded pink eyes and responded into the phone, "We'll be there." Then hung up before either boy could respond.

soon they arrived at the building.

"We're here." Pablo said

"So what do we need to look for?" Uniqua asked

"A globe." Austin said

"A rope that looks like a snake." Tyrone said

"Oh its a rope." Tasha said relieved.

"Come on guys we don't have time!" Austin said

they all started looking through the place frantically.

"I don't see anything that looks like a globe." Tasha reported.

"Does it look like a snake?" Pablo asked.

Tasha raised a brow, "Um...no, it looks like a rope."

"That looks like a snake?"

"No! You know what, think I'll go look on the other side of the shed." Tasha stated, getting up and walking away from her propellor-hat wearing friend. She walked over to where Uniqua was who was - with determintation - looking for a globe or snake/rope.

"Find anything?" Tasha wondered.

"If I had, I'd yell 'Eurika'." Uniqua sighed.

"but you would only yell eureka if you discovered gold or dinosaur bones." Tyrone said

"Well what else would i say?" Uniqua said

"Good point." Tyrone said

"Just keep looking." Uniqua said

"Hey i think i got something." Austin said

"You found something?!" Pablo asked excitedly.

"Eureka!" the girls grinned, hurrying over.

Austin turned around to his friends to expose what he discovered which he believed was the answer to the riddle.

Austin turned over the globe he had found.

"Hey Pablo can you hold this?" Austin said

Pablo took it and then started ranting on about it.

"5...4...3...2..1..0" austin thought.

Pablo dropped the globe and it broke open.

"Oops." Pablo said

"Pablo!" Tasha hissed.

"Oh no! Oh no I broke the globe!" Pablo panicked, beginning to flap his flippers.

"Pablo." Tyrone said.

"Oh gosh! Now what? Now we're done!"

"Pablo." Uniqua said.

"Oh man! Oh man-!"

"Pablo!" Austin said.

"Yeah?"

"Stop panicking, you helped."

"I did? I did! Yes! I helped!...How'd I help?"

"Yeah," Tasha budded, "how'd he help? He broke the clue."

Austin reached in and pulled out the map peice.

"oh." Tasha said

"Well now we just need one more!" Tyrone said

"So get looking!" Uniqua said

"OK...a rope that looks like a snake..."

"Or it could be a snake on a rope, Tasha. Or a snake that looks like a rope!"

"All snakes look like a rope, Pablo. Just with icky spots and they're slimy."

"Guys! Less chit-chatting and more searching!" Uniqua ordered, looking over under a table to see if she could spot a rope. She didn't, just more dust and papers so she abandoned that spot and walked off.

They kept searching.

"Uh guys." Pablo said

"What?" Uniqu asked

"Somethings got my foot." Pablo said

"Snake!" Tasha screamed.

"I don't think so, Tasha." Austin said, him and Tyrone walking over.

"I bet its the rope the riddles talking about." Uniqua smiled.

"I hope so, I don't like this boat shed. Its got spiders." Tyrone said, wiping off a stray web from his sweater.

"Eek! Spiders!" Tasha freaked.

Uniqua sighed and walked over to Pablo to try and help get him untangled from whatever it was.

After some time they unwound a rope from Pablo.

"This is it." Tyrone said

They unwound the rope itself and found the last map peice.

"We found them all." Austin said

"Now lets put the map tohether." Uniqua said

They put it together and they looked at it.

It showed a background of a beach with a sentence written on it. but some places had outlines of objects insted of words.. it read

"My...is on the...in a secret...to find it pull the...tht points to..."

Uniqua read another message on it.

"On shipwreck shore find a bottle of clues that will lead you to things with this map you can use." Uniqua read.

They all stared

"So we have to find a bottle in shipwreck shore." Tasha said

"I think i saw one." Tyrone said

They all rn to the shore.

They found the bottle on shipwreck shore and opened it.

Austin found a paper inside and looked over it.

"What is it?" Uniqu asked

"Its clues to find 5 objects to use with the map." Austin said, "And it looks like we might have to split up again."

They agreed to go after one each and keep in touch with their cell phones.

Austin went to the duck pond in the center of town.

Uniqua went to the north side of town near the lighthouse.

Tyrone went to the east side of town near the boat dock.

Tasha went to the south side of town near the meuseum.

Pablo went to the west side of town near the train station.

"Ok I'm gonna read them off and each of you go to the place closest to you." Austin said

"Up at the well where my treasure is not, I left you a card. go see what its got." Austin said

Tyrone went onto the boat and went to the island.

when he arrived he went straight to the well.

Tyrone searched thorugh carefully and found a card wedged between two stones.

He pulled it out and looked at it.

It had a picture of a cave.

"I hid my favorite seashell from peeping eyes. In the general store where we purchased supplies." Austin read

Pablo listened then walked into the general store. Zorori wasn't there luckily.

Pablo looked around and eventually saw a seashell on the wall.

Pablo grabbed it and looked at it.

It had a picture of a treasure chest.

"At the duck pond inn I stayed with the crew. My tea cup is waiting for you." Austin said

Uniqua went into the Duck pond inn.

She looked around the main lobby and eventually saw a teacup resting on a shelf.

Uniqua picked it up and looked at it.

Inside was a picture of a sword.

"T prove that my treasure isn't a myth look in my coat pocket for my old handkercheif." Austin said

Tasha walked into the meuseum and went to the coats.

Eventually after looking in the pockets she found a handkercheif.

On it were the initials M.P.

"My gun powder horn is the last thing you'll need. if you search the fort you'll find it indeed." Austin said, "Guess this ones mine."

Austin went up to the fort.

He went to the top where he saw the whole town.

Then Austin noticed a gunpowder horn in a hole.

Austin took it out and looked at it.

It had a picture of an island on it.

"Now look at my map. what do you see? if you find my treasure remember think of me." Austin said

"We have to meet beck in the middle of town." Uniqua said

They all started to head back.

Austin passed the meuseum and heard a faint voice.

"They almost found yours Mari."

Austin thought that name sounded familier.

Strange things had been happening and Austin had peiced it all together. at least he thought he did.

They all met back in the center of town at the duck pond.

They took their objects and put them on the map in the right place.

Then Austin read the results.

"My (treasure) is on the (island) in a secret (cave) to find it pull the (sword) that points to (M.P.)" Austin said

They all stared.

"Its on the island." Tyrone said

"Lets go there." Uniqua said

"I have something i need to do first." Austin said

"Ok we'll wait here." Tyrone said

Austin went over to shipwreck shore where no one was around.

Then he took out his cell phone and dialed.

He remembered the two phone numbers he saw in the general store.

Austin listened for an answer.

"Hello?"

Austin quickly hung up.

"I figured it out." Austin said

He quickly ran back to the others.

They all got together and got on a boat to the island.

Austin wandered around the boat as if he was looking for something.

Then Austin stopped. He stared at a group of people. Then left.

They all arrived on the island.

The backies went into the forest.

They found a bunch of rocks.

They looekd until they found one shaped like a sword.

It was pointed at an MP carved in a tree.

"This is it." Austin said

They each grabbed a part of the rock and pulled.

Eventually it came apart. There was a small cave.

They all looked it and saw it.

There was treasure everywhere.

most of it was gold coins and gold pots but there were other things too. There was a big gold chest filled with pearls. Several gold jeweled cups. A small box filled with diamonds. A golden mirror. A golden scale. A golden crown. a golden ship model. two big golden candelsticks. A chest filled with jewels. and lastly two silver swords with golden handles.

"We did it!" Uniqua said,

"We found all three pirates treasures!" Tyrone said

Austin noticed something in a pot.

"Guys wait quiet!" Austin said

Austin pulled out a scroll tied up. He unwound it and read the note.

"No one knows i'm a woman. on deck I'm called peirce. with my mustache and sword, i'm disquised and i'm feirce. theres nothing grander then a life on the sea. so as long as i'm living a pirate i'll be. Mary peirce." Austin read.

They all stared silently.

They stayed like that for a long time.

"Well." Uniqua finally said, "We will think of her."

"Now we need to get this treasure back to the inn." Austin said

"And were leaving tommorow." Tyrone said

They were able to get all the treasure back to the duck pond inn without anyone noticing?

"But I have one question now guys." Pablo asked, "What are we going to do with this treasure?"

"Hmmm..."

The Backyardigans thought. As they had slowly took armfuls of all the treassure and snuck it upstairs, they really had no idea why they were doing it if they didn't know what to do with it. Would their parents allow them to keep it? But...it didn't seem right to keep the treassure, despite the fact that they had found it themselves fairly, it wasn't exactly their treassure.

"Why don't we leave it here?" Austin suggested.

"What? And re-burry it or something?" Pablo guessed.

"Why don't we exchange it for money at a Gold Dealers?" Tasha wondered, knowing how her mother delt with her gold.

"It doesn't sound right," Tyrone sighed truthfully.

"I know," Uniqua smiled, "why don't we give it to the museum? This place had been looking for the treassure for years! I'm sure they'd appriciate it if we gave it to them, then all tourists can see it."

Austin smiled, "I like that idea."

Uniqua, Tasha, Tyrone, and Pablo all used their hammerspace to carry the treasure.

Austin went off to make a few phone calls.

"Who could he be calling?" Uniqua asked

"I have no idea." Tyrone said

They shrugged.

After they got all the treasure Austin came.

"Ok lets go to the meuseum." Austin said

They traveled there and when they arrived they got a big surprise.

Inside was Ken, Zorori, and Marikina. They appeared to be confused why they were there. it appears they each got a call saying the others wated to meet them there.

Austin and the others walked up to them.

"Hey guys." Austin said

They all turned to look at him.

Austin then did something amazing.

He used his hammerspace to pull out a treasure chest full of all the treasure they got.

"We found it." Austin said

They all stared in shock.

"And by the way I don't think you properly introduced yourselves so I'll do it" Austin said

Austin turned to the other backies.

"This is one eye pete, A newmn, and Mary peirce." Austin said

"WHAT?!" The four remaining Backies gasped.

Marikina smiled sheepishly, "We won't lie, you five are clearly too smart of our tall tales. You've figured it out, uncovered our mystery."

Zorori nodded, clapping, "Great job, kids. Nobody has been able to do what you've accomplish. They had no idea where to start. We've mentioned the treassure to almost every single tourist, but all they've done is wonder. You did much, much more."

"We are clearly amazed, incredible." Ken spoke.

"Thank you," Tasha bowed.

"Yeah, it was fun finding your treassure!" Pablo chirped.

"It was certainly an adventure." Tyrone grinned.

"But if you don't mind," Uniqua said, stepping forth to stand beside Austin.

"We'd like to give this treassure to the museum." Austin finished, looking up at the adults.

"Of course you can." Ken said

"But we want each of you to take one thing so that you will never forget this." Zorori said

They all looked through and each chose a treasure they liked.

Tasha chose a jeweled brooch to go with her dress.

Uniqua chose a ruby eyepatch.

Tyrone chose a large golden ring.

Pablo chose a silver plate.

Austin looked and then made his desision. Austin chose a big gem that when light shone through projected rainbows everywhere. It spread colors of silver, yellow, cyan, red, purple, green. and blue.

The three pirates stared at him.

"That gem." Marikina started, "It was the very first treasure we ever found together."

"We first met when we each found a peice of a map and it lead each of us to an island." Ken said

"We decided to work together and split up the treasure but that was the only thing there." Zorori said, "so we decided to become friends."

"Oh." Austin said

Austin started to put it back when they stopped him.

"Keep it." Ken said

"But its your favorite treasure." Austin said

"Trust us." Zorori said

"Ever since that moment when you discovered the first list of riddles I had hope in you." Marikina said

"Thanks." Austin said

Amazingly, Austin's folks had no knowledge of what had occured. Well, they recieved details but not to lengths that gave away anything. All they had been told was that their son and his friends had uncovered a chest of lost treassure at the beach. They had even gone to the museam to watch as the employees placed the beautiful and dazzyling jewels and riches on display for all tourists to see for years to come. They even added a picture of the 5 backies together to be on permanent display with it.

"What sheer luck you kids found the treassure!" Austin's father grinned the next morning at the train station.

"What can we say? These kids are lucky, hon!" Austin's mother beamed, ruffling her son's head. "We're so proud of you five,"

The Backyardigans smiled happily up towards the two adults as they carried over their bags to the train. "Stay here kids," his mother warned, "we'll be right back." Austin watched as his parents walked over to a booth, recieving their tickets and an employee to help them load their bags into their room on the train for them.

Unexpectantly, there was a tap on Uniqua's shoulder.

She turned around and gasped slightly in surprise.

There stood Marikina. She closed one eye in a winking fashion, placing a single finger in a hush-motion over her smiling lips. "I knew you kids were special," she smiled. "Goodbye," And just like that, she walked away out of their sights.

They stood there, looking after her even though the panda was long-gone. They blinked away their shock when the Kangaroos arrived, annoucing they were ready to go. They each boarded the train, Austin looking back one last time, smiling. "We knew this place was special too," and the doors sealed shut behind him.

And the train started after a squealing whistle rung out.


End file.
